Fatefully Intertwined
by Migoto Nami
Summary: Shikamaru had always believed that Neji was someone that you should never mess with. But someone who requests a genin team from Shika's own crop of students can't be all that bad..can he? ShikamaruXNeji YAOI Rated M
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer**: If you really think I would really be writing stories about these characters if I already owned them? -.-

The anime/manga series 'Naruto' along with all of its characters belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing.

* * *

Prologue:

The first time I saw him it was around three years ago. Or was it four? I don't really keep track of the days or weeks like most people do... too troublesome. But I distinctly remember on this particular day it was very hot...and muggy. Don't you hate that? I mean, especially when you've got something to do right? Like oh, I don't know, being a ninja..

Well anyway, besides the weather conditions, that day was not going particularly well. We, as in Ino, Chouji and I, weren't even into our first hour of being in the Forest of Death for the Chunin exams when we got ''busted''by the all powerful_... _I'm sure you know who I mean. I still remember what he said to this day, and the way he said it too..

''Alright. Stop hiding and come out'' he had commanded with the same cold tone that you could catch him using today.

''Shoot!'' Ino had exclaimed beside me. ''How could he have seen us? We hid so fast!''

'_God_' I thought, pinching the bridge of my nose with my eyes closed. '_Now I guess we're gonna have to fight this guy. Man, I am so not up for that. What a drag_..'

''It's no big deal.'' Ino whispered, ''our hide and hang out strategy didn't work. So, we'll just use Stratedy #2!''

''Whaaaaat!'' Chouji exclaimed in a whisper beside our blonde teammate. ''Are you SERIOUS Ino?''

''You got a problem with that?'' She sassed quietly. She's always been such a know-it-all. ''Trust me, this plan can't fail.''

There she goes again, so high and mighty, always sure of herself. Ever since we've become a squad its always been about what SHE wants to do. I wonder what stupid ''fail safe'' strategy she came up with this time. She most likely explained it earlier, I'm sure, but I was most likely too annoyed to listen due to the fact that this happened early this morning. I hate waking up early..such a drag. Oh well, just go with the flow I guess.

All of a sudden, Ino rushed us out of the bushes we were hiding in, casting us out into the open field in front of us.

And there he was.

The first time I saw him, I wasn't like I am now, you know...gay. By that time, I had known that I didn't prefer girls that much. Always complaining and wanting something from you, my mom being a prime example. But I guess you could suppose that I was in denial at this stage in life. I wasn't sure I wanted to like guys. So that's what led me to not quite analyze him like I might do now. But the first thing I noticed about him was his long hair. I also noticed that his skin was very pale, almost like a sickly kind of pale, but not quite. His face was angular and defined, yet had a certain softness to it. He also had this refined, calm look upon his face, resembling that of a cat's.

But what really captivated me were his large, lavender hued eyes. They passed over us as if with just one look, he knew every single detail about our lives. Our strategies, our weaknesses, everything. Yet at the same time they held a carelessness in them that suggested that he thought nothing of us. Like he was wasting his time...

Before I could think any further, Ino let out an ear splitting cackle, snapping me out of my little daze.

''Oh! Aha ha! Wow! Imagine running into last year's number one rookie, Neji Hyuuga all the way out here!''

Silence.. Nothing was happening...Okay, I told myself, time to improvise...say something!

''….Can I have you autograph?'' I asked, only realizing after I said it how much of an _idiot_ I must have sounded like. You should have seen the look on his face. To put it simply, it just screamed ''Bitch, no.''

He quickly regained his composure and struck us with a bored look ''Oh, its you guys..'' he groaned.

Both Couji and I were silent as Ino reached up for her hair, lacing her fingernail underneath the elastic holding her blonde locks up before pulling it out slowly, a small gust of wind coming from nowhere, blowing her hair alluringly in the wind.

Man, is it me or do girls always seem to have control over nature at the rights moments.

''Hi there. I've been wanting to meet you for a very long time, Neji'' my teammate said, bodaciously flaunting her body as she eyed him up and down...gross..

''So, hi-''

''Get lost.'' Neji said curtly, quickly turning around, not at all interested in Ino's little display.

I blinked. This was unexpected. Either this guy was gay or he had some serious issues. It still amused me though, seeing Ino cut down a size.

I heard a grunt to my right. My eyes flicked over to Ino, who had her balls fisted in anger, thrusting them in Neji's general direction. A look of pure hatred on her face as she did so.

I inwardly smirked. Yep, definitely feels good to see her ego take a hit. I immediately stopped my mental bashing of my teammate when Neji stopped suddenly, keeping his back to us as he asked, ''Did you just raise your fist to me? Does that mean you want to fight?''

I could sense from the way he said this that he was smirking. I shifted my right foot back before stopping myself. '_Intimidating us is what he wants.._' I thought.

I kept an uninterested look on my face as Ino immediately put her hands down, grinning as she quickly reassured him that a fight was not what we wanted. Neji looked over at us, an irritated look on his face as he responded, ''Tch, go away. Even if I were to steal a scroll from you cowardly wimps,.. everybody would just laugh at me for it.''

The three of us immediately turned around and headed over to the bushes, jumping back into the foliage as soon as we reached it, Ino calling back ''Sounds good to me!''

As we were fleeing, I swear to this day that Neji spat out something along the line of ''coach roaches'' before finally taking his leave.

When we had finally reached a spot that we found safe, I placed my hands on my knees, leaning forward as I breathed harshly '_Just as I thought_,' I thought to myself '_someone like him wouldn't take a scroll from people like us..unless we turned on him and attacked_.'

''Alright!'' Ino piped up in front of me, putting her hair up as she laughed ''Lets see if we can find some weaklings! Ha ha ha ha..'' I gave her a weird look

''Well..I doubt we'll find anyone weaker than us..'' I replied, not at all surprised when she just ignored me, continuing on with her laughter.

I didn't see Neji again until after we had helped Sakura fend off those sound village guys. He had showed up in the nick of time it seemed, appearing with his brunette teammate in the tree behind us. He had seemed genuinely angry about the fact that the sound ninja literally used his teammate for a punching bag. It was at that moment that I knew NEVER to mess with him or get involved with him. EVER. My theory was proven right when I witnessed this said genin beat his own cousin into a bloody pulp. However, despite my previous decision to avoid him, things turned out quite unexpectedly..


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: Do you really think I would be writing stories about these characters if I already owned them? -.-

The anime/manga series 'Naruto' along with all of its characters belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing.

* * *

''Alright...'' an older, female voice said to her lone occupant in her office. The early morning sun coming in through the large windows behind her, illuminating the room with an orange glow

''I have been thinking about having someone request you for Anbu...but not quite so soon. Any particular reason why you are choosing _now_ to ask me about this? Most jounin spend years training to hone their skills before even thinking about joining the Anbu Black Ops.'' she said, uncertain about his motives as she placed her elbows on her desk, resting her chin on top of her laced fingers as she examined his facial expression carefully.

''I'd rather not say, Hokage-sama.'' was the polite reply.

Tsunade sighed, taking her elbows off of her desk. She should have expected as much. This was a _Hyuuga_ she was talking to after all. She cast him one last look with her chestnut colored eyes before opening a drawer to her left and pulling out a vanilla colored folder.

The blonde shut the drawer with her foot as she opened the folder. She flipped through the recordings of recent missions, successful missions, failed missions, mission reports and the like, stopping once she found the report she was looking for, pulling it out of the folder and then closing it.

With a sigh, the hokage tossed the folder carelessly onto her desk. ''Neji..'' she said ''You have always been flawless when it comes to your missions. You have good judgment. And you work well with others..But..'' Tsunade sighed, crossing her arms over her chest as she sighed ''That is not all it takes to get into Anbu. There is still more for you to learn.'' she said, biting the fingernail of her right thumb as she gave her desk a calculating look.

''Then..what do you suggest I do, Hokage-sama? Take on more missions to gain the exp-''

''No.'' the fifth hokage cut him off. ''Not that kind of experience.'' she said, putting her fist down on her desk. ''While it is true that missions give you battle experience as well as teamwork experience, that is still not enough.'' the blonde said, getting up from her chair, turning her back to him so she could look out of her large windows at the village she held so dear to her heart.

''You need to learn how to become a full-fledged leader. And you can not gain that experience from simply leading your fellow leaf ninja on B and A rank missions...'' she paused, crossing her arms behind her back as she continued to stare outside.

''Hokage-sama?'' Neji asked softly, not quite sure where she was going with this.

''Hyuuga Neji'' Tsunade said in a commanding voice before turning around to look at him, one hand on her hip ''I will be blunt with you. Most, if not all ninja who join Anbu were once a sensei for a group of genin.''

''You are suggesting I require a team of genin to teach.'' It wasn't a question

''Yes. Even though you are young, Neji. I believe you can definitely do this. You have never proved me wrong before.'' the blonde replied, smiling softly at him.

''And..how long will I be sensei of these students?'' Neji asked curiously. ''Just until you feel they are ready for the Chuunin Exams..." he paused, carefully. "...And if they should fail the exams?''

''Well then, I suppose you will have to train them all over again from scratch for the next one.'' Tsunade said, an evil glint in her eye as she sat down again. ''The longer you spend training these kids, the longer you have to wait to join Anbu.''

Neji nodded. ''I understand, Hokage-sama. I will do my best to train these children in the way of the ninja.'' he agreed.

''Good.'' Tsunade said, opening her drawer again to pull out a piece of paper. She picked up a pen that was discarded on her desk, clicking it before writing something down with the pen's blue ink.

''Go to this room at the academy at this time.'' The fifth hokage instructed, handing the small piece of paper to Neji, who took it from her fingers gently. ''Nara Shikamaru will be teaching at that time. Tell him I sent you.'' she said, the brunette nodding as soon as she was finished, looking at the slip of paper.

''Tell him that I said for you to spend today's class observing both the children _and_ the way he teaches. You haven't had any missions that directly involves children in a long time, so this should be to your benefit. Shikamaru will tell you if he feels that you need to observe more by the end of class today and if he thinks you need it, do the same thing next day and the day after until he thinks you are ready. When he feels that you are, tell Shikamaru to come and see me and we shall discuss which students will be most suited for you.''

The brunette nodded ''I will.'' he said.

''Good. Now get out of my office. You have kept me away from my work long enough.'' Tsunade said, dismissing him with a wave of her hand. ''And don't forget. I will still be giving you missions here and there. Don't think that just because you have children to teach that I'm going to give you a free pass. Be ready to multitask.''

''Yes, Hokage-sama'' Neji said, bowing before turning around and taking his leave, apologizing to Shizune when he almost ran into her due to the fact that she opened the door at the same time he did.

Shizune shook her head at him and told him it was alright, giving a confused look to his retreating form before turning her attention to Tsunade. ''That's odd. You usually don't have people here this early in the morning.'' she said, Tonton snorting softly from her position in the brunette's arms.

Tsunade shrugged in response, not offering an explanation as she took a drink of her water, resuming her paperwork for the day.

* * *

Almost like clockwork, at 6:29 AM, Nara Shikamaru sat up in his bed, yawning as the covers fell from his his half naked body to gather in his lap.

Not even a minute later, the Nara's alarm clock went off loudly, startling a few birds that were nesting in the trees outside. Shikamaru blinked slowly before looking over to his right, staring at his alarm clock boredly.

'_Ugh...why even bother setting an alarm when I just wake up before it anyway?_' he thought as he continued to stare, not moving to turn it off anytime soon.

He stared for another two minutes before sighing and getting up, walking over to his closet, switching his alarm clock off as he shivered slightly, cool morning air from his open window blowing into his room as the brunette sauntered lazily out into the hallway of his apartment, clothes for the day in his arms, fully intent on taking a shower.

Shikamaru had quickly moved out of his parent's home as soon as he made enough money to start supporting himself, completely fed up with his mother's complaining about _everything_ he did.

Even though he moved out, he still lived fairly close to his parent's home. Just about a 8 minute walk separating the two homes from each other. Shikamaru having picked out the apartment for this specific reason because even though he didn't get along with his mother, Shikamaru and his father still had a strong connection. And besides, if something went wrong, they weren't that far away in case he should ever need them, which seemed less and less possible with each day he spent away from them.

His apartment was small, but it was a sort of small that was still strangely comfortable to live in. The apartment itself had four rooms, not including the hallway.

The living room was the first room his guest would see when entering his apartment. The carpet, along with the rest of the furniture, was a deep purplish color. There was a low hardwood coffee table in front of the cozy couch with worn in rings in the wood from not using coasters. The tv stood in front of that in a dark wooded entertainment center. Among the shelves were various pictures of his family and teammates. Also, a not so awesome stereo system with speakers occupied the greater shelf on the bottom. The rest of the house remained cloaked in shadow for now, until he pulled back the dark drapes. They were especially helpful for keeping out the annoying sunlight so he could sleep longer. From the living room branched off the hallway with his bedroom and the bathroom which he currently stood in front of. He yawned and opened the door. Time to get this day rolling.

Shikamaru yawned as he walked out of his bathroom and into his hallway, his hair damp as he rubbed his towel lazily against the wet brunette locks, not caring if they were actually dry or not.

The Nara was now fully dressed in his usual Chuunin attire, black pants that went down to his ankles with a matching black shirt that had fishnets under it, the crisscrossing black material peaking out from under his black shirt and stopping at his wrists. The chuunin's forehead protector was sewn into the material of his left arm. Also, there were bandages and a weapon pouch around his left thigh as his chuunin vest completed the outfit.

Shikamaru stole a look at the clock in the kitchen, groaning as he saw that if he didn't hurry up, he would be late for his morning class. The brunette quickly put his hair up in its usual ponytail, grabbing a pear to eat as he was walking the short walk to the academy from his apartment. He shut the door to his apartment, locking it before setting off on his way to the academy.

* * *

Shikamaru sighed as he made his way to his classroom. Class A26 on the first floor. He fished through his back pockets for his keys as he sauntered down the hall, a tired expression on his face as he yawned, bringing the back of his left hand up to his mouth as he finally found his keys.

He swung them around in his fingers as he finally arrived at his classroom. He was just about to put his keys in the door to open it when he stopped, noticing the door was slightly ajar.

Raising an eyebrow, the Nara opened the door to his classroom, a confused look on his face as he saw who was currently leaning on his desk with an impassive look upon their face. Before Shikamaru could even process a thought, the male figure before him pushed off of his desk and made his way over to Shikamaru, muttering out

''You're early..Nara''

Shikamaru felt his breath catch slightly in his chest. He didn't know if it came from the initial surprise of encountering an unexpected visitor or if it was because of who this visitor actually _was_. Neji Hyuuga. Wow. It'd been what? Two, Three years? He _certainly _looked different_, _ that's all Shikamaru could say. The softness of his face was gone and was now angular and defined. His once childishly rounded face had filled out so that it now gave off a stronger, more fierce expression. He was taller too, almost as tall as he was. But not quite. Shikamaru would say that Neji was a couple inches shorter. Big firm muscles now gave his body an intimidating outline. That hair of his...He almost stopped breathing for a moment. It was just as long and as shiny as he remembered it. The one thing that remained unchanged about him was his pale lavender hued eyes that still held that unamused expression within them. The Nara felt something tug hard on his stomach upon sight of the brunette. Something he hadn't felt in a long time. He realized he'd been staring and cleared his throat awkwardly. "What are you doing here? And I'm not early I'm..._wait._" He cast a side long glance at the clock hanging at the front of the classroom. It was only six thirty! "_God damn it!" _Shika inwardly cursed_. "I KNEW I forgot to do something! Oh man, what a pain. I could have gotten an extra hour..._Haaaa" He outwardly sighed, passing a hand over his face. "Well,...anyways why are you here?"

Neji sighed and handed the Nara a piece of paper that Shikamaru hadn't noticed was in his hands before then. Shikamaru took the piece of paper from the jounin and scanned the words that were neatly written on the piece of flattened wood.

'_Is she serious?_' Shikamaru thought to himself as he grimaced at the words. '_I have ENOUGH to deal with right now..._' he complained to himself, crumpling the small piece of paper into a ball.

''Hokage-sama also told me to tell you that I am to observe the way you teach this afternoon.'' Neji said after a brief moment of silence between the two shinobi.

Shikamaru's eyes flicked from the crumpled piece of paper to Neji's pupiless orbs before looking back at the paper once more. ''Troublesome..'' was all he said before slipping past the Hyuuga to sit at his own desk, tossing the piece of paper in the trashcan that was near the side of his desk.

The two boys were silent as Shikamaru pulled out a few pieces of paper from his desk, taking a pencil from the can full of writing utensils lazily before starting to write something down which for some reason the Hyuuga didn't even bother trying to look at.

'_Good_...' Shikamaru thought as he continued to 'write' the hokage in all her glory, but only with a much more obese body than she normally had and also having a few blemishes on her masculine looking face.

After a while, Neji coughed quietly into his fist, drawing the Nara's attention from his poorly sculpted drawing of the hokage. ''So...where do you wish me to stay during class?''

Shikamaru shrugged. ''Anywhere.. doesn't matter to me.'' he drawled, going back to the angry drawing of the hokage while still looking as if he was doing work. Neji stared at the sensei for a few more moments before turning and taking up residence in the back of the room.

The two sat in a tight uncomfortable silence for several more minutes before the students slowly started to arrive. The first to enter was so silent, the two probably wouldn't even have noticed him if they weren't looking for something, _anything_, to distract themselves from each others presence. He took a striking resemblance to Neji. He had the same flowy brown hair, only his was considerably shorter, falling in soft waves around his boyishly round face. They had the same ice cold, pupiless eyes that held that bored expression. "Good morning Sensei." He respectfully mumbled as he passed. Shikamaru only grunted in reply. Not even a moment after their exchange of words, a sound of rapid, loud foot steps approached down the hall. Not a moment later a petite, female, frame appeared in the door frame. She had her dark red, long, hair pulled up into a high but neat pony tail on top of her head. Fiery red bangs fell down out of the elastics hold and framed her pretty heart shaped face. She had on a loose fitting dress shirt with a red sash tying it around the middle, fixed with a bow in the back. It had flowy sleeves that cut off at her elbows, the neck line was low and generous. A pair of dark leggings covered her lower half along with bandages and a kunai holder on her right leg.

She stood for a moment catching her breath before she strode into the room and took a seat behind the previous student.

It was quiet for a moment before yet another form appeared in the door way. He was tall for his age, with nicely toned muscles. A mop of spiky Aqua colored hair rested upon his head. He had markings on his face that resembled fangs. He had on a snug, dark green sweater vest with mesh visible under the v neck-line of his shirt and on his shoulders. He also had a pair of dark brown cargo pants on, with kunai knife holder and ninja tool pack on respectively. He turned back towards the door. "Come _on, _Stubba!" He called out into the hallway. Not a moment later a short, brown, morbidly obese, cocker spaniel entered the room huffing and wheezing who could have only been "Stubba". "Jeez, what took ya so long." He mumbled, and then ran his fingers through his messy hair at the sight of the red headed girl. He strode confidently up to her and nodded flirtingly in her direction. "Sup, Nami."

"Tch...Whatever, Youji.." Was her only reply, leaving his ego totally wounded. Stubba nudged and pushed him into the seat across the row from Nami. Shikamaru smirked. Yep, nothing like seein peoples pride being bruised so early in the morning.

It wasn't long before another student entered. This one was a male with beachy blonde hair that fell in front of his crispy blue eyes. He wore a tight purple t-shirt with a flared collar and black shorts. He had clean white bandages on both of his wrists going down to his knuckles. He wordlessly passed Shikamaru's desk and took a seat in the back of the class.

Shikamaru didn't bother looking up from his drawing until all of the students had filed in. The brunette sighed as he picked up a clipboard from his desk wordlessly, sparing a glance at the Hyuuga in the back of his classroom before starting to take attendance for the day.

* * *

**Wow! Thanks for the reviews :D I was no nervous that this wouldn't turn out well but I guess I was wrong. And I can not even describe in words how it felt to get feedback. I literally DANCED around my room with my koolaid(getting it everywhere I might add) for at least 10 minutes before I got lazy and decided to stop. Well, anyways, thanks so much for the support :3 and definitely count on me writing some more soon. Until then, later :D**


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Do you really think I would be writing stories about these characters if I already owned them? -.-

The anime/manga series 'Naruto' along with all of its characters belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing.

* * *

''Haruno, Namine..'' Shikamaru said in an uninterested voice as he made it half way down the list of names, not looking up from his clipboard when the red headed girl from earlier piped up from her seat, saying that she was here.

''Hyuuga, Hiroshi'' Shikamaru read, glancing up over his clipboard to see the number one rookie of his class reply that he was present. The brunette had an impassive look on his face as he sat up straight in his seat, his arms crossed causing the Nara to wonder if Neji was ever like that when he was younger. His brown eyes flicked from his student to the prodigy in the back of his room, noting how their postures were similar before turning his attention back to his list of names as Neji's eyes found his.

Shikamaru sighed as he got to the next name, mentally preparing himself for a loud response. ''..Inuzuka, Youji'' he said in monotone, not at all surprised when said student loudly shouted, ''HERE SENSEI!'' followed by a bark from the only animal in the room, Stubba, who was sprawled out on the floor next to her master, blocking the walkway between desks.

The Nara twitched as he looked at the dog with distaste as she started to drool on his clean floor. He stared at the overly fat animal for a few more moments before reading off the names of the other students, looking up when he finally reached the last name, his brown orbs immediately finding the boy.

''Yamanaka, Damien'' the teacher said softly, receiving a ''Here..'' in response from the academy student as he moved his blonde hair away from his face with his fingers, staring out of the window from his seat, clearly not wanting to be here.

Shikamaru checked his name off, setting the clipboard and his pen down afterwords. He looked up at his students, finally explaining to the confused children why their was a jounin in the back of the classroom. The class all nodded and some even said hi to the Hyuuga, receiving an awkward hello back in response.

Shikamaru let them have their greeting before refocusing their attention on himself, not caring that he now had an audience watching him. He'd spent most of his career with people looking at him, whether it for advice, battle strategy or simply because they wanted to. He didn't care then. And he certainly doesn't care now. Not even if one of the people staring at him was Neji Hyuuga...

'_Whatever_...' The Nara thought to himself before turning around and reaching for a piece of chalk that was on the dust tray of the chalkboard, instructing his students to take out their scrolls and copy what he was doing on the board, all the while conscious of the fact that every single person in the room wasn't looking at him anymore...all except for one.

* * *

Violet colored eyes flicked from the Nara at the front of the room to the clock on the wall next to the only door providing an exit out of the classroom. '_Come ooonnnn..._' Youji Inuzuka thought to himself as he continued staring at the clock, not bothering to take notes. '_We're already __**2**__ minutes late for lunch! What the hell? He ALWAYS does this!_'

The young dog tamer passed a look at his animal, who was panting and drooling on the floor, hoping in vain that maybe she could make his sensei dismiss the class for lunch faster. But unfortunately for him, Stubba didn't have any control over Shikamaru, so that plan was out.

The aqua haired boy glared at his sensei, who had his back turned to the class, instructing his students to draw the diagram he was putting up on the board.

The Inuzuka looked at the clock one last time. '_What the frip sensei! Now its 3 minutes! I can't take this anymore_.' he thought angrily, pulling out a kunai from his pouch on his right leg, hurling it at his sensei in a fit of anger.

Shikamaru immediately sensed the attack coming but remained still, the poorly aimed kunai whipping past his head and striking the chalkboard about 8 inches away from his right cheek, the students gasping and Neji remaining impassive as the ninja weapon pierced a hole in the chalkboard, cracking it in the process.

The Nara stayed still for a few moments, a vein throbbing at his temple in annoyance. The genius turned around slowly, a completely pissed off expression written on his face as he hissed ''Who..threw..that?''

Twenty five sets of eyes, Stubba's included, pointedly looked at the only Inuzuka in the room, who was rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. ''I...uh..'' he stuttered, looking down at his dog, coming up with an idea instantly ''Stubba is hungry!'' he exclaimed, pointing at his ninja hound, causing some of the kids in the room to snicker.

''I see..'' Shikamaru responded, ''Well then..._Stubba_ and the rest of the class are dismissed for lunch. But you, Youji... You stay here and fix my board.'' he said, students rushing out of the room as soon as he was done with his sentence.

Youji ran a hand through his aqua colored locks and looked down at his faithful companion ''Well, Stubb-Hey!'' he yelled, noticing his dog rushing after the rest of the class to go get food. ''Stubba! You traitor!''

* * *

The rest of the day went without interruption. Neji observed quietly from the back of the room as the hours slowly ticked by, only moving from his spot when it was time for a lunch break.

''Damn kid..'' Shikamaru sighed as he ran his hand over his chalkboard, feeling the hole that was slightly smaller than it was before, but still noticeable from a distance. '_Just great...now I need a new one. What a drag...these things aren't exactly cheap. Man, I hate my job_...'

''It's not that bad..'' came a smooth voice from behind Shikamaru as a pale hand came to rest on the cracked chalkboard as well as he came up beside the Nara ''It won't be that hard to fix..''

''Yea but paying for it is the problem...'' Shikamaru muttered. ''I'm most likely going to have to pay for it out of my own pocket. The academy isn't exactly rich right now..'' he said, taking his hand off of the black surface before their fingers had a chance to touch.

''What would you estimate the price as?'' Neji asked, turning to face the brunette.

''Probably around a hundred dollars...'' the sensei sighed out before turning his attention to the Hyuuga genius ''Neji..I still want you to observe. One day just isn't enough...especially with these brats..'' Shikamaru said, refering to his students

''Hmph...I had a feeling you would say that. Very well...'' The Hyuuga responded before taking his leave, Shikamaru watching him as he went. The Nara stayed for a few minutes longer, putting his things back into his desk lazily before leaving, locking his classroom for the night as he did so.

* * *

''I don't see what the problem is.. You're teaching job is stable and almost all of your students are passing. Whats the big deal with having Neji sit in for a few days?'' Tsunade questioned as she looked at the Konoha Chuunin, arms crossed as she looked him over.

Shikamaru sighed. ''It's just more work for me in the end..'' he complained, shrugging. The Hokage shook her head at him, leaning back in her chair.

''All I need from you is a report, Shikamaru.'' she said, becoming slightly irritated.

''I know that..but you could have at least have given me a warning before sticking him with me.'' the brunette responded.

The fifth hokage's eyebrow twitched at this. ''Nara Shikamaru.. Do not question me.'' She snapped ''I am the hokage of this village. Learn some respect.'' she scolded, not leaving him any more room to complain

''Your students will graduate next week. Neji will be out of your life after that. Deal with it until then'' she said, Shikamaru not really liking the sound of Neji being ''out of his life''. He ignored the feeling as he nodded

''Troublesome..''

* * *

The next day, Shikamaru arrived at the academy on time, having fixed the stupid alarm clock the night before. He wasn't at all surprised when he found that his door was ajar, the same as it was yesterday.

The Nara sighed and grabbed onto the door handle, '_Here we go_..' he thought to himself before opening the door, catching the sight of Neji once again leaning against his desk, but this time having his violet eyes concentrated on the blackboard instead of Shikamaru.

''You're not early this time..'' Neji commented, still not looking at the sensei.

''Yea well, I wasn't gonna miss out on any more sleep than I have too.'' Shikamaru replied in a bored tone.

Neji chuckled at this, nearly stopping the other boy's heart for a second. ''That sounds just like you I suppose..'' he said and Shikamaru shrugged.

''There's nothing wrong with getting a little extra shut eye..'' he said, walking over to the Hyuuga

''By the way.. The Hokage told me that you wanted a genin team. But she didn't explain why.'' he said, stopping about a foot away from Neji ''Any particular reason you want to babysit a bunch of kids?'' Shikamaru asked, curious.

''I have my reasons..'' Neji simply responded.

The Nara genius looked at him for a few moments before sighing. ''Fine. I won't push you. I don't even push myself most of the time anyway, so why bother doing it to somebody else?'' Shikamaru said, going behind Neji and sitting in the chair by his desk as the room quickly became silent.

''So..did you tell anyone that you're getting a genin team yet?'' Shikamaru asked, not liking the silence that had enveloped the room.

''Yes actually'' Neji said, moving away from the desk. ''I ran into TenTen on my way home yesterday and I told her. She seemed...surprised to say the least.''

''It's probably because she would never expect someone like you to want to spend time with kids..'' Shikamaru said, smirking as he sat back in his chair.

''I will admit that I am not fond with the idea of spending time with children either. But as I said before, I have my reasons.''

''Yea yea..'' Shikamaru said as a few of the students starting showing up for school.

The two shinobi talked for a few more minutes before it was time to get class started, Neji moving to the back of the room as Shikamaru went to the front, telling the students to quiet down and listen.

The Nara caught himself staring at the only Jounin a few times through out the day but didn't seem to mind that his eyes had a way of gravitating towards the long haired ninja. He was just happy that there wasn't so much tension between them anymore...

* * *

**Review Please :3 Let me know what you thought. Reviews make me write better and give me confidence too! X]**

**and zomg, next chapter there is gonna have some more bonding and some shikaneji fluff XD**

**catch ya later **


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** Do you really think I would be writing stories about these characters if I already owned them? -.-

The anime/manga series 'Naruto' along with all of its characters belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing.

* * *

The sound of eager feet shuffling out of Shikamaru's classroom could be heard in just about all of the rooms in the academy. Today was Thursday, and every Thursday, Shikamaru's students went outside to the practice area behind the building.

This time outdoors was used to practice what the students have been learning during the earlier days of the week and to also stimulate their brains with some healthy outdoor activity. All of the teachers did this and were assigned a day to bring out the kids, Shikamaru's being on Thursdays while Iruka had Mondays and so on..

''Oh yea! We're gonna rock at this training!'' Young Youji exclaimed as he was the first one to get outside, pointing his finger up in the air confidently as he exited the building

''Right Stub...ba?'' Youji turned around to find his dog not following him...again. ''Stubba! My god! Could ya be any slower? Learn how to move faster, geez!'' The Inuzuka scolded as soon as his overly fat ninja hound made it outside.

''Stop yelling at Stubba.'' Namine said as she made it outside as well, stepping over the hunk of fur that was laying in the middle of the doorway that led outside.

''It's not her fault that _her owner_ feeds her so much'' the redheaded girl said, glaring at Youji as she sat down on the grass beside the panting dog.

''I do not.'' Youji defended himself. ''She eats the stupid cat food all the time.'' he said, crossing his arms as he didn't bother to move Stubba from the walkway as other students stepped over her on the way out

''Well then you should put it somewhere where she can't get it.'' Namine countered, petting the ninja hound gently while Youji mumbled to himself, not really having anything to come back with. He _did_ leave the cat food where she could get it, so he didn't have any right to complain about the dogs weight.

The Inuzuka looked over to his classmate when she gently removed Stubba from the walkway, moving away from the path himself when his sensei walked out into the yard, Neji silently following after him.

Shikamaru's eyes passed over them for a brief moment, nodding at them when Namine greeted him politely. The Nara cast a glance at the Hyuuga behind him before looking on ahead, stopping in the middle of the practice ground as he ushered his students around him.

''Okay everyone. We'll be doing the same thing we've been going over for the past two weeks. Learning how to properly sneak up on your enemy without them noticing both you and your chakra.'' The Nara explained, rubbing the back of his neck. ''We'll do this the same as always. Pair up and get to work.'' he said, watching his students pair up to practice concealing their chakra.

''What do you mean by, 'we'll do this the same as always'?'' A smooth voice to his right sounded as Neji came to stand beside the Nara, looking at him for an explanation.

Shikamaru shrugged lazily, his brown eyes focused on the students. ''The kids try and figure out how to do the exercise by themselves for a while, and when they can't figure it out I demonstrate and explain it to them.'' he said, looking over at the Jounin beside him. ''Then they spend the rest of the day practicing.''

''I see..'' Neji responded, staring at the children for a few moments before turning his gaze to the other boy ''Well then, if you're just going to demonstrate for them, why not just show them at the beginning of class and save time?''

''Because this gives the kids a chance to feel like they're doing something for themselves. It helps motivate them to try stuff out and learn instead of having me just show them the way all the time.'' Shikamaru responded, looking back over at the children, all of them practicing really hard ''When you're on a mission, there's not going to be anyone there to tell you how to do something. You need to figure it out on your own...'' he said

''True..'' Neji said, smirking lightly as he looked back at the kids as well.

* * *

Shikamaru waited until the day was about a quarter over before he finally stepped in and told the students how to conceal your chakra.

''Remember though'' Shikamaru said ''Even though your chakra may be concealed, that doesn't mean that you can be loud when you're sneaking up on an enemy.'' he said, looking over at Youji, having noticed earlier that he was overly loud when he tried sneaking up on Damien, who had noticed his friend coming even before the Inuzuka was anywhere close to striking him, getting laughed at by both Damien and Namine, who was practicing with Hiroshi a little ways away.

Youji shrugged sheepishly with a grin on his face as he caught his sensei staring pointedly at him, receiving an annoyed head shake from Shikamaru in response.

''Alright..now I'm going to go over how to properly sneak up on an "enemy"'' Shikamaru said, making air quotes with his fingers. ''Now, I need a volunteer for this.'' he said, not at all surprised when almost the whole class raised their hands eagerly

The Nara looked his students over, trying to decide who to choose when an idea struck him and he looked to his right. ''Neji, how bout you do it?'' he asked, receiving a few 'awe's from the students when none of them were picked.

The Hyuuga looked at him oddly. ''Are you sure? The students seemed to have wanted you to pick one of them.'' he said, causing some of the students to look at him.

''Nah. You need to get more involved with this. Don't go being lazy. I wouldn't want someone trying to copy me.'' Shikamaru said, a playful smirk on his face.

''Trust me, the last thing I want is to stoop down to your lazy level.'' Neji responded in the same playful tone before nodding in agreement. ''Fine then. Where? And what do you want me to do?''

''Over there.'' Shikamaru responded, tossing his head behind him to the corner of the training area which had some medium sized trees and shrubs around it for cover. ''And just stay still. You're the 'unsuspecting victim' anyways.'' he said

The Hyuuga nodded at this before going off into the corner as Shikamaru explained to his students how to properly maneuver and keep your chakra hidden at the same time so that wouldn't be detected. The brunette instructed the students to just stay here and watch while he showed them what to do, so they wouldn't get in the way while he was sneaking up on the Hyuuga.

'_Doesn't matter though. He probably would figure out where I am anyway with that byakugan of his. Oh well..it's only a demonstration._' The Nara thought to himself as he went over to the side of Neji lazily, hiding himself in the bushes as he concealed his chakra without having to think about it. He crept up behind the Hyuuga, keeping his eyes trained on Neji's back as the Hyuuga kept his eyes front.

Even though the Nara could tell that Neji wasn't looking at him, the Chuunin knew that the Hyuuga knew he was right behind him. Shikamaru didn't care though, as he took out a kunai from his weapon pouch and sprung out of the brush quickly, placing his kunai at the jounin's throat and his hand on his lower back.

''And that's...how you do it.'' He said, receiving applause from his students.

Shikamaru could feel the tense muscles of the Hyuuga's back underneath his palm as Neji remained unmoving. The Nara could faintly smell the scent of pine and soft cotton radiating off of the Hyuuga as the two of them stayed still, waiting for the kids to calm down and go try it themselves. Shikamaru passed a look at his 'victim' and noticed for the first time how handsome Neji looked up close like this. The shadow-nin also noticed how much Neji's eyes resembled clouds from this angle.

He kept his gaze on those lavender colored orbs as they stared ahead at the kids while they got up eagerly to go and try the exercise for themselves. Shikamaru's brown colored orbs continued his staring until they felt this strange urge to look lower, his gaze coming to rest on the Hyuuga's parted lips.

Brown orbs stayed lock on those strangely enticing lips, their owner feeling a stranger urge to cover them with his own before said lips moved, Neji's voice snapping him out of his daze.

''You do realize that I could still sense you right?'' Neji said after a moment of silence

''Yea...'' Shikamaru responded after a moment, confused about what the hell just happened while reluctantly taking his hands off of the Jounin.

''Let's go and help the kids...'' the shadow-nin said, trying to redirect his mind from the incredibly alluring Hyuuga next to him as he started walking towards the kids, not waiting for a response.

* * *

By the end of the day, Shikamaru was somewhat surprised with how well Neji instructed the kids. He was calm, understanding and also patient with them, which the shadow-nin found quite puzzling considering how the Hyuuga had acted all those years ago when he was fighting his cousin. How he had gotten so fired up over hearing her say just a few words.

Also, Shikamaru couldn't shake the feeling of _wanting_ to be near the older shinobi. He tried to ignore it, even ignored Neji while it was time for lunch, but he just couldn't get the long-haired nin out of his head and it was REALLY starting to bug him. Especially since he was trying to get all of the kids to go back inside and wait to be dismissed for the day, which was a chore in and of itself.

''Look, you can stay out here all ya want, but that's not going to change the fact that if none of you get inside right now, I'm never going to let you outside again until graduation.'' Shikamaru said, irritated how the kids wouldn't just shut up and listen to him.

The students went inside after hearing this though, and within three minutes, everyone was back in the classroom, waiting to be dismissed while chatting with their friends and roaming around the room, their sensei having never cared what they did with the last few minutes of class.

''Did you honestly think it was necessary to threaten them like that?'' Shikamaru didn't even have to look up to see who was by his desk as he was sorting and putting away his graded papers.

The Nara refused to look at the Hyuuga next to him, still confused about what happened this afternoon. ''Never thought I'd see the day when Neji Hyuuga actually cared about a bunch of kids..'' he replied in a bored tone, stacking his papers to put in one of his folders.

''Hn..I suppose you could say that they've.. grown on me.'' Neji replied back, not making an attempt to defend himself from that statement.

Shikamaru shrugged at this, putting the papers into a beige colored folder ''Kids have a way of doing that.'' he responded ''Even I have grown to like them a little, even if they irritate me sometimes''

''I noticed.'' Neji said, smirking as he recalled how earlier in the week, the Nara was completely pissed that one of his students threw a kunai at his chalkboard. The Hyuuga looked at the board now, nearly two days later and noticed that it was completely fixed, not a scratch on it.

The two remained silent until all of the children left, leaving them in a silence, which wasn't exactly uncomfortable, but Shikamaru couldn't help thinking that it was awkward. The Nara spent most of the day thinking about the incident this afternoon, and through his thinking, he came to the conclusion that Neji most likely didn't know what he had been planning back there.. But that didn't make him feel any less awkward now that he was alone with the gentlefist-user.

''Shikamaru..I feel like I am ready to stop observing and prepare for a genin team. The final exams are next Monday and it is already Thursday...'' Neji responded suddenly, causing the shadow-nin to look at him for the first time in hours.

The Nara sat back in his chair as he thought about it. Neji had been observing for about three days now. And considering how good Neji was with the children today, Shikamaru could see why the Hyuuga thought himself ready to stop observing.

The sensei glanced over at the other boy. Though it was true that Neji was ready to go, Shikamaru didn't want him to. The Nara had actually found himself attracted to the handsome Hyuuga as he found out about an hour ago when he had kept staring at the older nin when he was sure he wasn't looking. Attraction, wanting physical contact, wanting to spend more time with him and learn more about him...yea. If that wasn't a crush then Shikamaru didn't know what was.

''Alright...'' he finally responded ''But there's one more thing that I'm still not too sure about.'' Shikamaru said, continuing on when Neji was silent. Shikamaru sighed and got up lazily ''Even if you're ready, I still have no idea who to pair you up with for a team...'' he said ''The job was put up to me by the hokage. And I just don't know who to pick to be honest'' Okay, it wasn't technically a lie. The Nara had some clue of who to put in the Hyuuga's squad, but nothing was concrete yet.

''What are you saying?'' Neji asked, curious

''Im saying..'' The Nara said as he picked up his keys to the class room and tucked his folder of papers underneath his arm. ''That I would appreciate spending a little more time with you to help me figure this out.'' Shikamaru responded. ''Maybe play shoji or something..'' he added as an afterthought.

The older ninja was silent for a few moments ''I...can't today. But I can tomorrow.'' Neji said, agreeing to the arraignment.

''Sounds like a plan.'' Shikamaru nodded, secretly very happy on the inside but also very guilty as well.

''Did you still want me to observe tomorrow?''

''Nah, I told you, this is for me. You're all set.'' The sensei responded, giving Neji a time and where exactly his apartment was before they both left, saying goodbye before parting ways.

'_Man..me and my big mouth_..' Shikamaru thought as he sauntered off to his apartment.

* * *

The next day felt odd without Neji being in the back of class and Shikamaru couldn't help missing the silent Hyuuga as the day dragged on. But fortunately for everyone, the day went by at a normal pace and before the Nara knew it, the school day was over and he was walking home, carrying his folder full of papers with him once again.

After a few minutes, the brunette made it back to his apartment, whipping out his keys from his back pocket and opening the door. He tossed the folder onto his low coffee table, not caring when the folder slid off of the table and onto the floor as he shut his door, placing his keys on the coffee table as well when he walked by on his way to his kitchen, which was attached to his living room, a shoji door that seperated the two rooms.

Shikamaru's kitchen was spacious compared to the living room. The cabinets and drawers were all made out wood, black counter tops surrounding the counters. The refrigerator was black to match the counters and was to the left side of the room when you walk in, a trashcan next to it. The sink was directly in the middle of the room, a dishwasher to the left of that and a stove to the right side of the room. The floors were covered with white tile which were slightly faded because it hadn't been washed in months. Lastly, there was a small bonsai tree on the counter top, happily soaking up the last drops of sunlight for the day from the window above the sink and to the left of the stove.

The Nara yawned as he got some water from the fridge and poured it into one of his glasses, staring at his mess of a living room. There were a few shirts thrown over the couch from earlier when Shikamaru lost the shirt he normally wore under his Chuunin vest and couldn't figure out what shirt to wear instead. There were scrolls all over the floor, as well as some empty bags of potato chips from when Chouji had been around the other day after work. '_I can't even see my floor anymore_..' Shikamaru thought as he stared at the floor that was a dark purplish color but now was white and orange from all the clutter that had been dumped on it.

Shikamaru took a sip of his water as he looked at his kitchen next. It wasn't much better. There were tons of dirty glasses on the counters and a pile of papers on the table. The floor looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years and there was a boatload of dirty dishes waiting for him in the sink.

Shikamaru had never been one to go out of his way to clean. His mother always had complained about his lack of cleanliness when she would come over to visit with his father but he didn't care. It was his house and he would clean it when he felt good and ready. But as Shikamaru looked at both of the rooms, he was beginning to think that maybe that wasn't such a good idea

'_Maybe I shouldn't have asked Neji to come over_..' He thought to himself, looking at the clock to see that there was only about an hour before Neji showed up. '_Oh well..Nothin I can do about it now.._'

But still, Shikamaru did feel kind of bad that he invited the Hyuuga over and wasn't even going to bother and clean his apartment for his guest. The Nara shut the door to his kitchen and looked down his hallway that led to his bedroom and bathroom before turning back to his living room, deciding that picking up the clutter was the least he could do but vacuuming was out of the question. '_Eh..I'll do it tomorrow_...' he thought as he picked up his scrolls and shirts after having set down his glass of water.

The shinobi deposited the scrolls and clothes on his bed, deciding that he would get rid of them later as he wasn't feeling that up to it. He repeated this routine until all of the clutter from his living room was gone. '_Finally...I can see my damn floor again_.' he thought to himself as he opened the dark curtains of his living room, letting the late afternoon sun pour into the room.

He looked over all of his 'hard' work before shrugging and going off to find his shoji board before his guest arrived.

* * *

About two hours later, Shikamaru caught himself in a battle of wits against Neji in his living room. The two had been playing ever since Neji arrived about an hour and twenty minutes ago. When the Hyuuga had arrived, Shikamaru asked him about the students and also asked him if he would prefer specific people to which Neji had responded that it didn't matter to him. All of the kids were going to make excellent shinobi in his eyes.

Shikamaru had nodded at that and offered Neji something to drink, the Hyuuga politely declining because he had gotten something to drink before he had stopped by, most likely thinking that he wasn't going to be here long. After that, Shikamaru had told Neji that he had figured out a team for him but would tell the Hokage tomorrow.

Neji nodded at this, not caring that even though Shikamaru figured out which team would be his, he didn't even bother to tell him. The older ninja then noticed the shoji board neatly set up on the Nara's coffee table. Shikamaru asking him if he had wanted to play for a bit seeing as the Nara didn't have anything better to do and the Hyuuga had agreed and started to play the board game. It would have been an intense game..if Shikamaru was actually focusing on it.

The Nara had thought a lot about what he wanted to do about his 'crush' towards Neji after he had cleaned his living room. He had decided to just go with the flow and tell him tonight instead of waiting. Shikamaru might seem to take things slow when it came to his lifestyle and his strategies but when it came to liking someone, he didn't hesitate. It just delayed the inevitable and Shikamaru wasn't one to beat around the bush when it came to these things.

''You seem to be distracted...'' Neji said as he placed a piece on the board, ruining the Nara's strategy. Not that it mattered, Shikamaru already had five other plans ready.

''Nah..'' Shikamaru responded, slapping down his own piece and stealing one of Neji's, causing the Hyuuga to frown. ''I've just been working hard, that's all.'' he said, trying to come up with a good way to tell Neji about his 'attraction' to him.

''Hn...I never expected _you_ to say something like that..'' Neji said, thinking for a moment before moving one of his own pieces.

''Hey.'' Shikamaru defended. ''I can work hard when I feel like it.'' he said as he put his piece down next to Neji's hand, which was laid near the board on Shikamaru's table. ''Remember when we went after Sasuke? Who do you think came up with all the strategies? It wasn't Naruto, I can tell you that.'' the shadow-nin said, his hand lingering on the piece near Neji's hand.

Neji noticed this and smirked. ''Then why do you hesitate?'' he challenged ''Could it be that you are doubting your own strategy?''

''…..Not this time.'' Shikamaru said softly, his hand moving on its own to cover Neji's, surprising the both of them.

The Nara looked at their conjoined hands before looking at Neji's face, noticing that the Hyuuga looked completely confused. Shikamaru tried to focus his eyes on the Hyuuga's own cloud colored orbs but failed as his eyes again went to the Hyuuga's lips, completely ensnaring him once again as if he were a fly suddenly caught in a spider's silken web.

''I know this strategy...won't fail...'' Shikamaru whispered softly as he leaned in closer. The hyuuga seemed frozen in place, his wide lavender eyes watching as Shikamaru leaned in and captured Neji's lips in a soft, warm kiss.

* * *

Neji remained unmoving against Shikamaru's lips, catching him completely off guard. It was true that Neji had started to slightly become attracted to the lazy ninja in the short span of time that they spent together, but he hadn't planned on acting upon it anytime soon. Neji wasn't exactly happy about the fact that he was beginning to have feelings for another man and the Hyuuga was sure his family wouldn't like it either.

But Neji couldn't help but feel slightly warm on the inside as the shadow-nin kissed him. He let his eyes slipped closed as he felt Shikamaru squeeze his hand gently, letting himself be completely lost in the moment, even kissing back softly. Their kiss started off slow and somewhat sloppy, neither of them having much experience with this kind of thing, but in the end it got the job done.

Their small, shy kiss gradually started to get rougher the longer they kept their lips together, Shikamaru having slipped his tongue inside Neji's mouth at some point without the Hyuuga really noticing. The two tongues started their fight for dominance but there was no clear winner due to the fact that they needed to part for air.

Neji pulled away first, keeping his eyes closed while Shikamaru opened his eyelids and stared at the Hyuuga, examining his handsome face for any sign if he had enjoyed their 'make out session' or not.

Neji opened his eyes after a few moments of breathing heavily and tore his hand out from under the Nara's. Shikamaru let him, staring into the other ninja's violet colored eyes that oddly resembled a storm right now instead of the clouds he usually saw them as.

''Neji..I-'' Shikamaru started, intent on explaining himself.

''I need to go.'' Neji cut him off, standing up from the table.

''No... you don't.'' The Nara said softly as he got up as well, grabbing the Hyuuga's wrist when he moved to leave.

Neji looked back at him, just stared into those chocolate colored pools of brown, before yanking his hand out of Shikamaru's. ''Goodbye, Nara Shikamaru.'' he said, opening the door and leaving, leaving Shikamaru once again feeling guilty.

'_God_..' the chuunin thought to himself as he sat down on his couch, covering his eyes with his arm. '_What have I done_..?'

* * *

''So you have figured out a team for Neji, huh?'' Tsunade asked, her chin resting atop her laced fingers as her elbows rested on her desk.

''Are you completely sure that this is the team you want to give him?'' Shizune piped up from her spot next to the hokage, reading over the list of names written on the piece of paper that Shikamaru had given to the blonde haired gambler earlier.

The Nara sighed and nodded ''Yea.'' he said ''Those three have good teamwork and they all know each other really well.'' he said in a bored tone, shrugging

''I see...'' Tsunade said. ''Alright then. Now all we have to do is wait to see if they all pass...'' she said, smirking as she leaned back in her chair, folding her arms. ''Neji's going to have this hands full with these three.'' she said, an evil look coming over her face, amused by the whole idea as Shikamaru sighed

''What a drag..''

* * *

**ZOMG! Horray for cheezits and Koolaid! My tools for getting through this chappie! Woot XD**

**Bring in the dancin lobsters XD **

**Lol you guys. I seriously thought about stopping this chap right after the kiss but I didn't. I kind of felt somewhat bad that I didn't write to much last chap. So be grateful XD but I am still mean tho, ending it with a little cliffhanger like that..oh well :D im faithful you guys will get over it :3 I could have made it even worse XD **

**ZOMG? Who's gonna be in Neji's team? Damien? Namine? Youji? Hiroshi? Some random hobo off the street? You don't know, but I do! :P Just for shizz and giggles, let me know who you think is gonna be in the team. lol**

**Until next time, Peace! :]**


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer**: If you really think I would really be writing stories about these characters if I already owned them? -.-

The anime/manga series 'Naruto' along with all of its characters belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing.

* * *

Throughout the next three days, Neji didn't see Shikamaru at all. Which Neji was very grateful for. The Hyuuga was confused about what happened the other day and didn't know what to do about the matter at hand.

Thankfully, Shikamaru didn't bother him. The Nara probably thought he needed time to think or something. Or maybe he thought that Neji never wanted to see him again.

Something inside Neji constricted painfully at the thought of that. He wasn't a coward. He wasn't going to just avoid him like that. No, Neji would see Shikamaru tomorrow at the meeting for the new sensei that were getting new genin teams and he would fix this problem. One way or another.

Now, if only he could think of what to say when he saw the Nara. '_I don't want to destroy any last shred of friendship we might have_..' the jounin thought as he watched his uncle and cousin spar from the porch near the courtyard while he leaned against one of the pillars to the building, arms crossed as a thoughtful look shown on his face, the jounin not really paying attention to the two but instead thinking about what should be done about the shadow-nin.

'_But it wouldn't be such a good idea if I actually decided to be with him. The elders would most certainly not approve.. and neither would Hiashi-sama_.' Neji thought as he glanced at the elder Hyuuga in the courtyard, only slightly paying attention to the fight. '_But...that's never stopped me before..'_ Neji thought, remembering how he had learn the Kaiten and the Eight Trigrams: 64 palms without their permission when he was still a genin.

He also still remembered that he had not been even remotely punished for learning such techniques, only offered more training. Neji's white eyes stared down at the ground as he continued to think, not noticing how his uncle decided that it was time for a break or how Hinata had nodded and asked to be excused before walking off once she had permission, saying that she would be back in a few minutes.

Lord Hiashi passed a look over to his nephew, having noticed that he had been standing in that same position for the whole time he had sparred with his daughter. Neji usually never stayed to watch them. He would sometimes sit and observe for a while, but never this long. It had been 2 and a half hours after all.

The Hyuuga lord watched his nephew for a few moments before calling out to him. ''Neji.''

The addressed quickly snapped out of his muse and turned his eyes toward his uncle. ''Yes, Hiashi-sama?'' he asked, politely, straightening his posture when he saw his uncle was done with his sparring match with his daughter.

Hiashi studied the boy carefully for a second before walking over to him, taking a seat on the porch, reaching for his glass of tea that Hanabi had nicely prepared for him earlier. ''Something is troubling you.'' the Hyuuga lord said, taking a sip of his tea afterwords. It wasn't a question.

Neji remained silent for a long while, so long that anyone else would have thought that he would never respond, but Hiashi knew better. The boy was simply trying find the right words to say and the elder man didn't mind waiting until he found them.

''It's...complicated.'' Neji finally said, sitting down next to his uncle.

Hiashi glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. ''Would this, by any chance, have to do with the team of genin that you will be receiving tomorrow morning?'' he questioned, remembering that Neji had explained the whole situation about the genin and anbu to him a few days ago.

''Hm...yes and no. I have actually been thinking about that lately.'' Neji replied honestly. He had been thinking about what to do with his team once they were assigned to him. Every new sensei had to have a test that had to make the students use teamwork to pass. It was given to all new recruits to decide if they would actually pass and become one of nine genin or fail and be sent back to the academy for more training.

If this happened with Neji's team, he would have to wait even longer, as Tsunade explained two days ago. At this point, the Hyuuga jounin was at a loss. He didn't know what type of test to give the students without it being too easy or two hard. Every idea he came up with so far was exceptionally hard for a new ninja to accomplish and Neji was quickly running out of ideas.

During the past few days, he had spent time with his own team, hoping that they would help him out with this situation. After getting nearly crushed to death by Gai-sensei, who was so overly happy that his own student finally becoming a sensei, the spandex clad shinobi had helped Neji come up with a few ideas, even going as far as to tell him about his own experience when he first became a genin. They were all good ideas, but Neji didn't feel comfortable with any of them for some reason. But he did say that he would ask his sensei if he should ever need his help with this task.

''You shouldn't concern yourself too much with it.'' Hiashi said, taking another sip of his tea as his nephew looked at him. ''I'm confident you'll come up with something. You always do.'' he said, putting down his cup when he saw his daughter return to finish their match.

Neji watched the Hyuuga Lord go back onto the courtyard before standing up and leaving, planning on doing some more thinking about both his team and a certain Nara.

* * *

The next morning, Neji and a few other jounin arrived at the hokage tower at around six thirty AM. Neji arrived right on time and noticed that the Hokage wasn't the least bit pleased that they were doing this so early. She had a meeting this morning, though, and it couldn't be helped.

Neji took a spot up near the front of the room so that he could easily hear and see the hokage. But that wasn't the real reason he was so close to the front of the room. He actually wanted to be able to find Shikamaru easily among the Chuunin that surrounded the hokage.

Neji went over to his spot and waited with the other jounin until the others arrived, picking out Shikamaru easily. The Nara sat next to the hokage, yawning as he thought about how all he wanted to do was go to bed right now.

Shikamaru had immediately noticed the Hyuuga staring at him and locked their eyes. Each one staring at the other until Tsunade stood up, causing them both to turn their attention to her and away from eachother.

Tsunade waited until all the attention was on her before speaking. ''Jounin of the leaf village, all of you will be given a very heavy responsibility taking care of these children. You must raise them to be fine shinobi, just as your own senseis did for you. Guide them to be the ninja they want to be.'' she said seriously. ''The Chuunin here all did their part to teach them the basics. Now it's your turn to step up.'' She said, glancing at the Chuunin around her before looking at the Jounin in front of her. ''These children will one day be the successors of this village. Don't let them get hurt while under your care and always put their safety before yours. Don't forget that. Keep both them and yourselves safe.''

''Yes, hokage-sama'' every jounin in the room sounded at this, causing Tsunade to smile at them.

''Okay everyone listen up.'' She said ''I am going to read off the list of your teams accordingly. Listen carefully as I will read the names off once.''

I'

After the hokage called off all of the teams, Shikamaru quickly sought out Neji before the Hyuuga went off to find his genin at the academy.

The Nara surprisingly found him down at the entrance to the hokage tower. The jounin was leaning against the building, arms crossed and eyes closed and if Shikamaru didn't know any better, he would say that he had been waiting for him.

''Neji..'' he called, walking over to the Hyuuga

Neji opened his eyes and looked over at the approaching nin. ''Nara..we need to talk.'' he said, starting to walk off in the direction of the academy, trusting Shikamaru would follow.

* * *

''Look, Neji..'' Shikamaru said once they arrived at the wall that separated the academy from the rest of the village. Neji leaned against the wall as he waited for the Nara to continue ''About what happened the other day... I didn't mean for it to happen like that...'' He said, awkwardly.

Neji looked over him before asking ''What do you mean 'it'?'' he asked.

''Troublesome. I mean me telling you that I like you.'' Shikamaru said, stuffing his hands in his pockets, not caring that somebody might have heard him.

''Why didn't you just tell me?'' Neji asked, eyes narrowing, keeping his face calm as though they were talking casually about the weather instead of their feelings ''We could have avoided this whole thing..'' he said, refering to the three days that they spent away from each other.

''I already told you. I didn't mean for it to happen like that.''

''Then why did you let it?'' Neji asked swiftly, appearing as if he was angry when he really wasn't. He was just curious.

''Why are you being so defensive?'' the Nara asked him. ''When it was painfully obvious that you liked it too..'' he said, not understanding why Neji was being so difficult. If they both liked each other, then they should be together. It was as simple as that.

Neji glared at him ''I would appreciate it if you wouldn't make such blunt accusations in the future, Shikamaru.'' he said.

''So you're saying that we are going to have a future then?'' Shikamaru asked teasingly.

''I never said that.'' Neji said, getting angry ''And I'm not entirely sure that I would ever want a relationship with you, Nara.''

''Geez...I didn't know that liking someone was a crime.'' Shikamaru said, shrugging.

''It is when you come onto someone else's person without permission.'' Neji said simply.

There was a silence between them for a few seconds before Shikamaru sighed ''I'm just trying to apologize, Hyuuga.'' he said calmly.

''Well I'm not sure I want to accept it.'' Neji said, removing himself from the wall. ''I have to go meet my team.'' he said, planning on leaving Shikamaru there without even a second thought but was forced to stop when he felt a familiar hand grip his wrist.

''Neji. I don't want us to fight over this.''

''We already are.'' Neji said softly, not turning around

''I'm sorry okay. I just wanted to know if you wanted to be more than friends..'' Shikamaru responded, tugging the Hyuuga's wrist gently until the other boy was facing him.

Neji was silent for a while before saying ''I don't.'' He pulled his wrist free and walked away afterwords, leaving a very confused and hurt Nara behind.

* * *

''I can't wait! I can't wait! Man! When is sensei going to get here?''

''Do you EVER shut up? He'll get here when he gets here.''

''Hey. Our sensei could be a girl too you know.''

''Pfft, whatever-OW! Nami!'' Youji yelled, holding his injured head, glaring at the redhead, who had a book in her arms.

''Don't you think for one second that girls aren't as good as boys, Youji!'' she huffed ''Or I'll hit you again. Harder.''

''Hey! I thought you were supposed to be a medic! You're supposed to take care of others, not hit them with books!'' Youji exclaimed, shielding his head from any more attacks

''I'll do as I please.'' Nami said sweetly, going off to sit next to her other team mate, Damien.

She looked at both sitting next to her in their academy room, sighing to herself as she slinked down in her chair. There were a few more people left in the room who were eagerly waiting for their senseis to show up. Some of them were sitting down, some were walking around and talking.

Damien looked at the girl for a little while, looking away when she caught him staring. '_Great_.' she thought, annoyed. '_I'm stuck on a team with two boys who both want me. Just wonderful_...'

All the genin in the room went quiet when the door opened. Neji walked into the room gracefully before closing the door behind him.

''Hey...'' Youji said, ''It's uh...uh...'' he whispered from his spot on the desk next to Nami, trying to remember the jounin's name, but failing horribly

''You dipstick. His name is Neji'' Damien said, perplexed. Damien and Youji had known each other and been friends for a while but it still surprised him when the boy acted so dense.

* * *

''I knew that..'' Youji said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly

Neji looked around the room of new genin and quickly spotted the three. ''Youji, Damien and Namine. Come with me.'' he said simply.

''Oh yea! Finally! It's _our_ turn! Let's go, Stubbs!'' Youji exclaimed, getting up and running over to the Hyuuga, causing him to raise an eyebrow at his student. Namine and Damien got up together and followed their sensei out of the room, Stubba tailing along behind.

Neji took the four of them to the building that he first went to when he became a genin. A small house that was most likely abandoned by now. It was when Neji was a genin and he was pretty sure that no one had been there ever since.

The five of them went up to the top floor, which was surprisingly clean. The three genin sat down as Neji opted to stand, leaning against a pillar in the middle of the room. Technically it wasn't a room so much as a balcony. There were cushioned chairs that made a half circle around the room with a pillar in the middle of it. Above the seats, the wall was cut out, letting warm afternoon air into the room.

''As you all know, I am Hyuuga, Neji and I will be your sensei from now on.'' Neji started

''Well..not _all _of us knew.'' Nami piped in under her breathe, grinning when Youji told her to shut up.

Neji ignored that ''Now. Since all I know about you is your names, I want you to introduce..''

Neji didn't even get to finish his sentence before Youji raised his hand and waved it around. ''Me! Oh me! Me sensei! Me! Me!'' he said, eager to go first, Stubba barking wildly beside him.

''...yourselves..'' Neji's right eye twitched at being cut off before he nodded stiffly. ''Go ahead, Youji.''

The Inuzuka smirked and stood up. ''I'm Youji Inuzuka and I'm gonna be the best vet ever! And also I...uh... Wait, what else am I supposed to say?'' he asked.

Neji sighed and said ''Things you like, things you hate. Dreams for the future...things like that.'' he said

''Okay! I uh, already said my dream. I hate lizards..oh! And I hate medicine too. But only when I have to take it myself and I also hate broccoli.. And as for things I like...'' he blushed and looked over at Nami, who shot him a look that said 'back off.'

Neji raised an eyebrow at this before noticing Stubba for the first time. ''And..this is..?'' he asked

Youji stopped his staring and looked at his sensei, following the direction he was looking to find Stubba. ''This..'' he said, grinning as he picked up his ninja hound. ''Is Stubba. She's the best ninja hound in the world!.'' he said, grinning as the dog barked.

''I see...'' Neji said, noticing how the boy's legs were shaking from the excess weight ''Alright. Next..''

Damien and Nami looked at each other before Damien decided to go next. ''I'm Damien Yamanaka. I hate a lot of things... And I like...'' he started to say, looking to his left to avoid eye contact with his sensei. ''flowers.''

'_Not surprising_...' Neji thought, remembering that the Yamanaka's owned a flower shop ''And your dreams for the future?''

''I'd rather not say...'' Damien replied

Neji nodded at this before looking to Nami, who blushed when she noticed his eyes on her. ''I'm Namine Haruno.'' she said, smiling. ''I like dogs, the color blue and a lot of other things'' she said, petting Stubba when her owner finally put her down ''and I hate Youji.'' she said, causing said boy to gawk at her.

''And my dream is to be a great medical ninja just like my aunt.'' Nami finished

''Your aunt?'' Neji questioned

''Yep! Sakura Haruno. She's been teaching me medical ninjustu ever since I started at the academy.'' she said happily

''Yea, which you _should_ be using to help your team mates, not hit them with books.'' Youji piped from his seat, glaring at the red head.

''Watch it before I hit you with something _else_..'' Nami hissed, glaring back at the Inuzuka

''Why don't you introduce yourself, sensei?'' Damien said, silencing his other two team mates.

''Hm...I suppose that would only be fair.'' Neji mused before saying ''My likes and dislikes...I like solving puzzles and playing shoji occasionally. I dislike spiders and my current dream for the future is to join ANBU.''

''Kool...'' Youji said after a moment of silence.

''Yes, well...Since we still have a good portion of the day still left, let's get started on your mission.'' Neji said, noticing that it was probably not even seven thirty in the morning yet.

''Mission?'' Damien asked, looking back at his sensei in confusion.

''A mission? Cool! First day on the job and we get a mission! This is awesome!'' Youji said, completely ecstatic.

''Yes.'' Neji said and smirked. ''This mission will decide if you are to stay genin.. or be sent back to the academy.''

''What?'' Nami asked, confused.

''No way! I'm not going through that HELL again!'' Youji said angrily, crossing his arms, Stubba barked in agreement.

''They didn't tell you about this?'' Neji asked, raising an eyebrow. When the three of them shook their heads, he continued ''Of the twenty seven students that graduated, only nine of them can actually become genin. The rest will be sent back to the academy.''

The whole room got quiet after that statement and the Hyuuga took this as a sign to continue ''That is what this mission is for. If you pass, you stay genin but if you don't...you know what will happen.'' he said, smirking when he saw the scared looks on Nami and Youji's faces. ''This is a pass fail test...and there is a 66% chance that you will fail.''

''..Well that's dumb.'' Youji said, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat.

''Okay then, so what's the mission?'' Nami asked, composing herself.

Neji closed his eyes, a smug look on his face ''I thought you'd never ask..''

* * *

''Well this sucks..'' Youji said, flipping the map that his sensei had given him upside down.

''Give me that.'' Damien said, yanking the paper from his friend's hands.

''I just can't believe that he told us we have to do it on our own..'' Nami sighed as the three genin walked down the village streets, Nami in the middle, Damien on her left and Youji on her right and Stubba, like always, taking up the rear.

Neji had told them that their mission was to help a woman who had been dealing with a lot of break ins lately. Nothing too important was stolen, but the woman still wanted an end to the madness.

''I'm pretty sure he's still watching us... He wouldn't just tell us to do something and then not see if we really did it..'' Damien said, looking at the map while trying to figure out where they were supposed to go.

''Tch..what a creep.'' Youji said, lacing his fingers behind his head as he walked.

''Like you're one to talk..'' Nami said, glaring at the Inuzuka, who didn't seem fazed one bit.

''This way.'' Damien said, leading the team down a different street, stopping in front of a store. The store was small and it looked to be a candy store from the outside. There was a pink sign on the front of the store that said ''The Peppermint Twist'' on it.

''Well...that names kind of...lame..'' Nami said, crossing her arms as she stared up at the store.

''I'll say...'' Damien said before entering the store.

Namine was about to enter too when she stopped, looking back at Youji, who was trying and failing to remove Stubba from a friendly looking fire hydrant. ''Youji? What are you doing?'' she asked, becoming irritated.

''What does it look like?'' the aqua haired boy shot back, trying to pull Stubba away by the Konoha headband that was around her neck, the dog stubbornly refusing to go anywhere.

''Just hurry up.'' Nami snapped, going into the store.

The store was bright and colorful. There were candies of every shape, size and color all around and it had a cheerful atmosphere that reminded Nami of what it felt like to be a small child in a magical candy land again. Nami went over to her team mate, who was talking with the owner.

''Are you sure you don't know anything about what the thief looks like?'' The Yamanaka asked the owner who's name was Beatris.

''No, I'm sorry dear.'' she said sadly. The woman looked to be around thirty or so years old. Her hair was a dark brown color and she had beautiful brown colored eyes. She was wearing a light blue short sleeved shirt and dark blue shorts. She also had white apron on. ''All I know is that the thief usually comes some time during the day and steals some of the candy. I usually leave around noon to go and get something for lunch. Only for about twenty minutes or so but when I come back, some of the candy is always missing even though I always lock the store before I go out''

''Hm...'' Damien said, looking around. ''Which type of candy is usually taken?''

''The mango flavored ones over here.'' Beatris said, pointing to the mango flavored chewy candies that were in a container inside the front desk. ''They can only be taken out if someone was behind this desk. Also, a lot of other fruit flavored candy and taffy seems to be missing when I get back, mainly the banana, grape and orange flavors.''

''Huh...'' Nami said, crossing her arms. ''Ma'am, do you know anyone that might want to steal the candy?''

''No'' the woman shook her head. ''I have no idea.''

''How many pieces of candy are usually taken?'' Nami said as she looked inside the container that had the candies.

''A large amount. Maybe thirty or fifty pieces..'' Beatris replied softly

''Those jerks!'' A voice came from the front door, causing the three to look and see Youji, who had somehow managed to free Stubba from the fire hydrant. ''How dare they steal such delicious pieces of sugar!'' he said angrily as he went over to the owner of the store.

''Don't worry ma'am. We'll get to the bottom of this.'' Damien said

''Oh, thank you so much, dears.'' The owner said, smiling softly at them.

* * *

''So what's the game plan?'' Youji asked, frowning as the three genins sat outside of the store, Stubba half lying down on her master, who didn't seem to mind the extra weight. The four of them were waiting until Beatris went on her lunch break and were currently trying to think up a plan of action.

''I think we should stake out the store from both the inside and the outside.'' Nami said. ''Beatris said that there is a door directly behind the front desk that leads outside. We should have two of us wait out there while one of us hides inside the store..''

''That's a good idea.'' Damien agreed, thinking. ''I think we should also check that place out. Maybe we can find a clue or somethin...'' he said, standing up, looking at the obese ninja hound.

''Yea. Maybe we can catch the guy before lunch and force sensei to take us out. I'm starving..'' Youji complained, poking his stomach as it growled at him.

''You can eat later. Come on.'' Nami said, getting up and following Damien to the alley on the side of the store, Youji grumbling and getting up as well, Stubba opting to stay where she was.

''This door doesn't look like it's been used in years...'' Damien said, disappointed. The door was made of very old wood and it looked as if it was glued shut or something.

''But then how would someone get in? The camera at the front of the store would see it.'' his red headed team mate said, remembering that she had seen it while they were talking to the owner ''The only way someone would be able to get in undetected is from this side of the building. And even then, they would have to crouch low enough so that the front desk would shield them from the camera...'' Nami said, puzzled

''Maybe it was an animal'' Youji grinned

''Youji..that's just stupid.'' Nami said, crossing her arms and sighing. ''You have to slide the door to the case open..most animals aren't that smart..''

''Oh yea? Then how did that get there?'' Youji asked, pointing to a hole that was near the side of the building.

''How did..?'' Nami asked, surprised that she didn't notice that earlier.

''That hole looks like it could lead to the inside of the shop...'' Damien said, crouching next to it and looking inside to see if anything was there.

''I still don't think that an animal did this.'' Nami said, not impressed.

''Why? The proof's right there.'' Youji said, making wild hand gestures to the hole in the ground.

''It could be a snake hole for all you know'' Nami challenged

''Snakes aren't that wide.'' Youji said. ''That thing is like 5 inches across!''

''So? It still could-''

''Stop it. Both of you.'' Damien said, irritated. ''The only way to know for sure is to stake the place out.'' he said, standing up from his crouch.

''It's almost noon..'' he commented, looking at the position of the sun. ''Let's go tell Beatris and take our positions.''

''Right.''

* * *

'_Tick tock...Tick tock...Tick FRIPPEN tock_!' Youji thought to himself as he glared at the stupid clock in the store.

Namine and Damien had decided to stake out in the alleyway while Youji was forced to stay inside with Stubba.

'_God...this is SOOOOO boring_...' Youji thought to himself, resting his chin on his hand, his elbow on his knee as he sat Indian style behind two barrels of candy.

The Inuzuka quickly looked up over the barrels when he heard Stubba growl. Only his eyes and top of his head showing as he peaked over the barrels.

'_No way_...' Youji thought, remaining still as he watch the 'thief' pop it's head out from under a piece of floorboard and climb up once it saw that it was clear. The Inuzuka watched the creature skuttle slowly along the floor and to the glass case that held the candy. It reached a clawed hand up and pulled the door to the case to the side, opening it. The creature stood up on its hind legs and proceeded to eat the mango flavored candy like a glutton, Youji in complete shock as he saw the whole thing.

He stood up, the iguana immediately seeing him and turned around to make a run for it but the Inuzuka was too fast for it. He scooped the animal up by its tail before it could get too far and carried it outside of the store, Stubba growling at the lizard.

Youji stepped out of the store, holding the iguana as far away from his body as he could while still keeping a grip on it. ''I...hate...lizards.'' he said as he glared at the beast. He looked away from the creature to see his team mates had been waiting outside for him. ''Why didn't you guys stop him? I said this morning that I hate these things!'' he said angrily

''We wanted to see if it really did steal the candy and didn't just poke around in there..'' Damien said simply.

''Well, duh he stole the candy.'' Youji said, passing the lizard off to Namine, who took the lizard from her team mate gently. ''You should have seen that fatzo. He could really put it away. Even more than Stubba. And that's _sayin_ something.'' the Inuzuka said, looking back at his ninja hound, who was growling at the lizard in Nami's arms.

Nami backed up away from Stubba, holding the lizard to her chest protectively. ''What time is it? The owner said she would be back in 20 minutes.'' she asked.

''It's only been ten minutes..'' Damien said.

''Awe man! Now we have to wait around with _that_ thing!'' Youji exclaimed, pointing to the lizard angrily.

''Actually...that won't be necessary.''

The three genin turned around at the sound of the voice, Nami smiling and Youji thanking the lord when they saw it was their sensei.

''Sensei. Oh..my...god. You don't know how happy I am to see you!'' Youji exclaimed, running over to the Hyuuga, who was leaning against a tree by the store. ''This means we can get rid of that _thing_ right?'' he said, pointing at the iguana in his team mate's arms.

''Actually, no. That _thing_ actually belongs to Beatris.'' Neji said simply.

''Wait...wha?'' Youji asked, eyes wide and mouth agape as he stared at the elder shinobi, his team mates walking up behind him.

''Could you elaborate, sensei?'' Damien asked

Neji smirked. ''This mission was a complete fake. It was just a test.''

''But...'' Nami said. ''What about this guy?'' she asked, bouncing the iguana in her arms. ''And what about Beatris's store?''

''Actually... 'that guy' is my pet.''

Nami, Youji and Damien looked behind their sensei to see Beatris walking up to them. She went over to Namine and gently took the lizard from the genin. ''And he's actually a she.'' she said, smiling as the lizard licked it's lips.

''You guys, meet Tabetha.'' Beatris said, smiling at her pet. ''She's quite the actress isn't she?''

''But...I don't understand...'' Nami said, confused.

''This was all a test to see if you three could work together to solve a problem. Teamwork is the most basic thing to being a ninja.'' Neji explained, smirking ''And you three work excellently together.''

''So..._everything_ was fake? The thief, the store, evvverrryytthhiinggg?'' Youji asked, gaping.

''Well, no. This is actually my store.'' Beatris explained. ''I am a friend of Neji's sensei, Gai and the two of them asked me to help out. Tabetha normally tries to steal the mango candy whenever I bring some home so it wasn't that hard to get her to sniff out the candy and that hole was actually made by her a while ago. She always sneaks out of my house and sneaks in the store.'' she said, petting the lizard, causing Youji to make a face.

''But wait...I thought ninja missions were supposed to have running, fighting and other stuff like that.'' Youji said

''Not all missions are like that.'' Neji said. ''There are missions where all you require is your head.''

''Oh...'' Youji said.

''But wait, sensei...'' Damien said. ''If this was a test to see if we would be one of the teams that would stay genin then...did we pass? Are we going to stay genin?'' he asked as both he and his team mates looked at their sensei, waiting for him to answer.

Neji smirked and nodded. ''Yes.''

''YEA!'' Youji yelled, jumping up and down as Damien smiled and Nami sighed in relief. ''Nami!'' Youji said, bouncing over the Haruno ''Let's kiss to celebrate!'' he said happily, going to hug her.

Nami's right eye twitched and she decked him in the face ''Get away from me you perv!'' she yelled, Beatris laughing at the two of them as Stubba barked.

Neji smirked as he looked at the three genin. He would go to the hokage later on today and tell them that they had passed with flying colors. '_So this is how it's going to be then_..' he thought to himself, not minding in the slightest that he was now stuck with a bunch of kids for a while.

* * *

**OMG U GUYS! It's frippen 10: 10 exactly! AAAAAAHHHHHH XDDDDDDDD**

**Anyways, Neji's got a team of genin! Wooot! **

**But oh noes! Things aren't looking good for ShikaNeji! Noooooo XOOO But it's going to be okay guys, I promise...well...for a while..**

**Anyways, thanks for reading and let me know what you thought, beh! :]**


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer**: If you really think I would really be writing stories about these characters if I already owned them? -.-

The anime/manga series 'Naruto' along with all of its characters belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing.

* * *

The next morning was cool and tranquil. The rising sun was hidden by the abundant clouds that filled the sky with their white fluffy masses. It was so early in the morning that dew could still be found on the blades of grass that littered the ground.

''My god...why am I even up this eaaarrrlllyy?'' Youji groaned as he sat on the grass in the middle of a training field, struggling to keep his eyes open while Stubba was sleeping peacefully next to him. '_Lucky_..' the Inuzuka thought as he looked at her, knowing full well that if he was to fall asleep, his sensei would have a fit.

''I just wanna go to bed..'' he sighed as he laid back on the grass, not caring that his clothes were getting wet.

''Too bad.'' Damien said as he finally entered the clearing, stopping in front of his friend, arms crossed. ''Sensei said to be here early and be ready for a mission. Deal with it..''

Youji looked up at his friend, frowning. ''Nami's not here Damien..'' he said, placing his arm over his eyes in exhaustion. ''Cut the crap.''

Damien blinked, blushing slightly. The Yamanaka looked around, blue eyes seeing if what his team mate said was actually true. When there was no sign of the red head, he sighed and lowered his arms, plopping down next to his best friend.

There was a comfortable silence between them that ensued, the only sound that could be heard being Stubba's heavy snoring. ''I don't understand why you like..switch personalities around her..'' Youji said, breaking the silence. ''She's going to be my future wife anyways... So why bother acting all cool? We all know you're too much of a dork for her.'' he said, smirking to himself.

''Like you're one to talk.'' Damien shot back, glaring ''I saw how much you sucked on that dog walking mission we had a few days ago...'' he said, laughing.

''Hey! That dog was huge and it smelled HORRIBLE! You try walking something like that! Not even Stubba is _that_ bad.'' Youji said, removing his arm from over his eyes angrily. ''I'd like to see yah just try!''

''I'll pass.'' Damien replied, getting up off of the ground.

Youji watched him, a pout on his face. ''C'mon. I dare ya.'' he said, grinning as he turned on his side.

''We can just kidnap the big stupid mutt... Like when we stole that tarantula and put it in Shikamaru-sensei's desk, remember?'' he said, grinning when he saw his best friend start to laugh at the memory. ''Only this time, let's throw it at Neji-sensei's face for making us get up this early.''

''Don't be dumb.'' Damien replied, hitting his friend's head with his fist. ''We're not throwing a sixty five pound dog at sensei. You want to wake up even _earlier_ next time?''

''Owwww!'' Youji complained, rubbing his head. ''Abuse..'' he said, looking up to find his friend staring behind him. The Inuzuka turned around and grinned when he saw Neji approaching.

''You're so gonna get it!'' the aqua-haired ninja smirked as he got up, dashing over to his sensei. ''Sensei! Damien hit...'' he stopped when he caught sight of his sensei's red haired companion. ''Nami!'' he exclaimed, continuing to run again. ''My lloooovvveeee!~ ''

Namine, who had met her sensei on the way over, stopped and quickly dodged the oncoming ninja, causing Youji to crash into a nearby tree. The kunoichi winced when she saw this as her sensei raised an eyebrow at the odd behavior.

''Why...does love hurt?'' Youji whispered as he slid down the tree.

''Maybe because she never loved you...'' Damien said as he walked over to his team, smirking. ''And probably never will.'' he said, receiving a growl from his friend.

''You jerk! And to think I shared my candy buttons with you yesterday!'' Youji exclaimed pointing at his team mate with an angry expression.

''That's enough, Youji.'' Neji said, instantly stopping the fighting. ''You're acting like a child.''

Youji grumbled under his breathe at this before acting normal again. ''So anyways sensei, what are we going to do today?'' he asked, getting excited about doing something that involved training.

''We are going to go see the hokage. She has a mission for us.'' Neji replied ''Then, if there is time afterwords, we are going to train. I want to see the abilities that each of you possess..''

''But Neji-sensei. Why so early?'' Nami said, frowning as she remembered that the hokage never gave out missions this early in the morning unless it was completely necessary.

''Well...'' Nejis started to say, stopping as Stubba abruptly dug her nose into the back of his legs, causing the jounin to open them and let the obese ninja hound pass through the makeshift tunnel of limbs.

''Stubba baby!'' Youji exclaimed, kneeling down and hugging the animal when she waddled over to him. ''I almost forgot about you...'' he said, grinning sheepishly as he scratched the back of his neck while his sensei glared at the both of them. ''Sorry sensei..'' he said, looking down once he saw the glare while his dog licked his face.

Neji sighed, annoyed. ''As I was saying.. My team wishes to meet you this morning before they go on their own mission.'' he said, frowning as he remembered how TenTen and Lee bombarded him with questions yesterday.

Youji groaned inwardly at this. He wasn't too fond of the idea of meeting some random people that he didn't know so early in the morning. ''But _why_?''

''That's a good question..'' Neji said ''Ask them when they arrive.'' he said

* * *

''Neji! You didn't tell me how cute they all are! It's too bad Gai-sensei had to miss this..'' TenTen said as she smiled at the team of genin, causing Nami to smile sweetly at her as Youji to make a sour face.

The weapon kunoichi and Lee had arrived about fifteen minutes ago and already the Inuzuka couldn't stand them. TenTen kept calling him cute and Lee had actually hugged him, nearly killing him in the process.

''Hey I'm not cute! I'm a very awesome ninja!'' Youji said, crossing his arms, a look of utter seriousness on his face.

TenTen laughed at this, waving a had dismissively. ''I'm sure you are, Youji.'' she said

''Okay, listen up woman. I'm-'' Youji started, but was cut off when Nami elbowed him in the gutt.

''Stop being rude.'' she hissed at him as Youji gawked at her, holding his injured stomach.

''How very youthful you two are!'' Lee piped as he stood next to his team mate in front of the genin. ''Such young love is truly a blessing!'' he said, eyes watering as he raised his fist to the air.

''Um..what?'' Nami asked. ''We're not in love!'' she snapped quickly, taking a step away from Youji.

''C'mon Nams. Don't try and deny it when you know it's true.'' Youji said, making a move to hug her, receiving a punch in the face.

''Namine. You shouldn't hurt people you love..'' Lee said, frowning

''I told you that I don't love him!'' said girl snapped back, raising her fist as she glared death at the green clad ninja.

''Um, Neji-sensei..'' Damien said quietly as he went over to stand next to the Hyuuga, who had been watching the scene with a frown on his face. ''Can we wrap this up? I don't think Nami can take much more...''

Neji looked over to his student to find her punching the living day lights out of Lee while Youji tried to hold her back, Stubba barking and TenTen laughing at the funny scene.

''Very well..'' he said, going over to try and calm his hot-headed student down.

* * *

''I can't believe he actually thought we were together..'' Nami mumbled as she glared at the floor. ''As if I would ever..'' she hissed

''Nami...you know.'' Youji started. ''When you talk like that, it really brings me down...'' he said, head hanging as he kicked at the wooden floor miserably.

''Hmph!'' was the only reply from the red head.

''Quiet you two.'' Neji ordered, getting a head ache from all of this. He had taken his team to the hokage's office a little earlier than scheduled which resulted in them having to wait until she finished her meeting.

The Hyuuga looked down when he felt something brush up against his leg, frowning when he saw Stubba sit down next to him and lean against his left leg, almost causing him to fall from the excess weight pushing him over.

''Awe sensei...I think Stubba likes you.'' he heard Nami say as he glared down at the dog. Stubba looked up at him with her chocolate brown eyes, tongue hanging lazily out of her mouth as she panted.

''Great..'' Neji said sarcastically while Stubba licked his pant leg, causing the Hyuuga's right eye to twitch.

''Neji.'' came a voice from down the hall, the addressed and his team looking over to the hokage's assistant as she stood in the doorway to the hokage's room. ''The hokage will see you and your team now.'' Shizune said as she opened the office door, allowing them inside.

* * *

''Hey guys!'' Youji yelled as he looked down at the village. ''I can see my house from here!''

''Youji.'' Damien said, glaring at his best friend. ''Get away from there.'' he said, unamused.

''Yea, you might fall.'' Nami said as she picked up a bottle from the ground.

''Oh Nami, I didn't know you cared.'' Youji said happily as he walked away from the cliff, getting a roll of the eyes from his red headed team mate.

Neji watched the three genin from his spot in a nearby tree. The hokage had given them a D-rank mission to pick up the trash that had accommodated on top of the hokage monument. How the trash got there in the first place was beyond him, though. Not that many people came up here at all so it didn't make sense that there was so much debris everywhere, but there was.

Neji sighed as he leaned back against the trunk of the tree, looking up at the mid-afternoon clouds, the fluffy objects immediately reminding him of a certain chuunin. His eyes flicked down to his team, coming to rest on Nami as he thought about the conversation that they had this morning...

_''Sensei!..Neji-sensei!'' said Hyuuga turned around when he heard the sound of his name being called. He nodded in greeting as he saw Nami come running up to him, placing her hands on her knees and breathing heavily once she had stopped in front of him._

_''Good morning, Namine.'' he greeted as she stood up straight, smiling at him. ''How did you find me?'' he asked curiously. He had just exited the Hyuuga compound not a moment ago and didn't expect anyone to accompany him on his walk to the training grounds. _

_''Oh well, I live just down the road from here. I was on my way to the training grounds and I saw you.'' __Nami replied, ''I thought maybe we could walk together. I actually... wanted to talk to you about something.'' she said, looking down at the road as Neji started walking, the Haruno following close __behind._

_''Oh?'' Neji asked, glancing at the kunoichi out of the corner of his eye._

_''Yea, um..I was actually wondering if you know Hiroshi Hyuuga?'' Nami asked softly, looking up at her sensei._

_''The boy that was in your class?'' Neji asked_

_''Yea..'' Nami responded, waiting for his answer._

_''No, I can not say I know him personally but I have seen him around the compound sometimes..'' Neji replied honestly._

_''Oh...'' Nami said, frowning as she looked ahead of her _

_''Why do you ask?'' Neji asked, raising an eyebrow_

_''Well...um..I sort of...like him.'' the young kunoichi replied, blushing._

_Neji inwardly snorted at this. Girls her age were almost always only concerned with boys._

_''And I wanted to know if he was part of the main family or not..'' the girl finished, Neji stopping as he heard this. ''I would have asked him myself but I didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable.''_

_''Hiroshi is not part of the main family. He is part of the Branch family.'' Neji said stiffly as Nami stopped a few feet ahead of him._

_''Oh...'' Nami sighed as she looked down, disappointed._

_''Is there something wrong with that?'' Neji asked, crossing his arms, somewhat offended._

_''No.'' Nami said. ''I don't have a problem with that. Just because you don't come from the head of the clan doesn't mean you're worthless or anything.'' she said softly, Neji raising an eyebrow at this. ''It's just.. my parent's won't like that.'' Nami sighed as she kicked a pebble down the road. ''They told me that if he isn't part of the main branch, then they don't want me to be with him.'' _

_''Why?''_

_''My family...'' the red headed girl said softly, sighing. ''Isn't exactly rich.. We get by, sure, but... I don't know. I guess they just want me to be taken care of financially when I'm older so that I won't have to go through what they're going through..''_

_''I see...'' Neji said softly ''Well then, what are you going to do?''_

_''I'm going to do it anyway.'' Nami said without a moments hesitation, looking up from the road and giving her sensei a hard stare. ''I know that they will be mad.. and I know that there is a chance that he won't like me in that way...even though we've been friends for a while.'' she said, looking down at the ground again. ''But...I wanna try... And if it turns out that we won't be good together or that he doesn't like me, then I'll leave him be..''_

_''And if you stay together and you don't want to give him up?'' Neji asked, smirking when Nami looked up again with a determined look in her eyes._

_''Then I will do whatever it takes to stay with him. Even run away.'' she said seriously. ''If you like __someone, you should be with them. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks...not even your family.''_

'_Not even your family huh?_' Neji thought as he looked at the kunoichi, who noticed his staring and waved at him, smiling.

The Hyuuga smirked at her before returning his gaze up to the sky. He thought about why he didn't want to be with Shikamaru. It wasn't because he didn't like him. It was just because he was worried about what his family would do. The elders had never been fond of clan members who were attracted to the opposite sex..

Neji sighed as he thought about it. He wasn't scared of them, no. It was mostly of his uncle. He honestly didn't know how the older man would react to this and he didn't want to destroy the small bond that they had finally accomplished after many years of hating each other.

'_If you like someone, you should be with them_.' Nami's words echoed in his head. '_It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks_.'

Neji bit the inside of his lip as he thought about Shikamaru, deciding that he would go and see the Nara once he was done with his team.

* * *

Shikamaru sighed as he made his way down the crowded streets of Konoha, carrying a heavy box in his arms. '_Man, I can't believe I have to carry all this stuff home. What a drag_...' he thought as he rounded a corner.

Iruka, being the nice man he is, decided to let Shikamaru handle all the information about the incoming students at the academy and figure out which class to put them in. This wasn't such an easy task considering the amount of students that normally attended the academy,

Put all of that on top of regular missions and starting the preparations for the Chuunin exams in a few months made Shikamaru a very UN-happy camper. The shadow-nin sighed as he readjusted the box in his arms as his apartment building came into view.

The Nara slowed down his pace, almost stopping when he caught sight of a figure in white and black Hyuuga robes waiting outside of his apartment building. '_Oh great...what does he want now?_' he thought, still sour about what happened earlier this week.

Neji, who had been staring at the darkening sky, looked at the shadow-nin when he felt eyes on him. ''Shikamaru..'' he said softly when the other boy came close enough to hear him.

''What do you want, Hyuuga?'' Shikamaru asked in his normal, bored tone. ''Make it quick. I don't want to keep holding this thing all night.'' he said, refering to the box in his hands

''I want to apologize.'' Neji said simply, lavender eyes locking with brown.

Shikamaru was silent for a moment. He assessed the Hyuuga, noting how Neji's posture was relaxed, which meant that he didn't feel forced in saying this. He must really mean it.

Shikamaru sighed. ''You better come in. I don't want to stand out here all night.'' he said, entering the building. He wanted to hear what the Hyuuga had to say and he didn't want to be carrying that crappy box while listening to him say it.

Shikamaru dropped the box onto the floor as soon as he entered his apartment, flipping on the light switch and leaving the door open for his 'guest' to come in. He flopped down on his dark purplish colored couch as he watched Neji enter his apartment and shut the door behind him.

Neji frowned as he looked around the living room. Scrolls littered the floor and there were used coffee mugs sitting on the table. Although the prodigy wasn't surprised by this, it would have been nice if he could actually see the floor while making his way over to Shikamaru, who had picked up a scroll from the floor and started to write something in it with the pencil that had been waiting for him on the table.

''I'm...sorry about the way I acted the other day.'' Neji said, standing a few feet away from the Nara as he watched him write, not really able to make out what it was he was writing from this distance though. ''I didn't mean to be so...cruel.''

''You said what you wanted to say.'' Shikamaru said, shrugging. ''The way you say it doesn't matter. It'll still mean the same thing..''

Neji frowned at this. He looked up to see the Nara's eyes on him. There was an uncomfortable silence that formed between the two as Shikamaru returned to his writing. Neji sighed at this, glancing at the entertainment system across the room ''The reason I rejected you...wasn't because I don't like you...''

''Then why did you?'' the shadow-nin asked, looking up from his writing at the prodigy

''Because...'' Neji said, glancing back at Shikamaru ''My clan doesn't exactly care for the idea of their members liking the same sex..''

''Since when do you care about what your clan thinks?'' The Nara asked, raising an eyebrow.

''I don't.'' Neji said ''In fact, this wouldn't be the first time that I have defied them...''

''Then what's stopping you now?'' Shikamaru asked, getting up from the couch and walking over to Neji, stopping when there was about a foot between the two shinobi.

''It's... my uncle. I don't want him to hate me for something like this..'' Neji said, refusing to look at the shadow-nin

''He doesn't have to know..'' Shikamaru said, reaching out and cupping the smaller shinobi's chin with his fingers, forcing Neji to look at him.

''Hiding is shameful...'' Neji said, pulling out of Shikamaru's grip and turning around, ''Especially when it's something like this..''

''Who said we have to hide?'' Shikamaru said, taking a step towards the Hyuuga until his chest was against the prodigy's back.

''So you're saying that you wouldn't mind being ridiculed by others for doing something like this?'' Neji asked, looking down when he felt hands grip his hips.

''Not at all.'' Shikamaru said, burying his nose into the mass of chocolate colored hair before him.

''What about your friends and family? Don't you care what they..'' Neji was cut short when he abruptly turned around to face the shadow-nin

''No, Neji. I don't.'' Shikamaru said with a look of complete seriousness that the Hyuuga had never seen him wear before. ''I want to be with you. And my friends will just have to learn to accept that.''

''Well..it's not that simple for me..'' the long haired ninja replied

''You're afraid.'' the Nara said, catching the Hyuuga off guard with how blunt he was being.

''I am not.'' Neji said, defending himself.

''Oh yea?'' Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow. ''Then why won't you tell your friends? Hell, knowing Lee and TenTen, they'd probably throw you a fricken party for finally getting together with someone..'' he said, ''But hey, I can't control you. If you don't want to tell anyone, whatever. No skin off my bones. PDA has always been way too troublesome for me anyway..''

''PDA?'' Neji asked, raising an eyebrow

''Public Display of Affection.'' Shikamaru said, scratching the back of his neck

''Oh..'' Neji said, the room going quiet for a few moments before the jounin sighed. ''So..you really do want a relationship with me then?'' he whispered, not at all surprised when he received a positive answer.

''Yea.'' Shikamaru replied, dropping his hand down to his side. ''But if you don't want to, well.. the door's right behind you. Leave if you want''

Neji looked behind him at the door to the apartment before returning his gaze back to the other occupant in the room. The Hyuuga was silent as he took a step toward the Nara, breaching the ninja's personal space.

''I don't want to.'' the jounin said softly, making up his mind.

The Nara smirked at this and placed his hands on Neji's hips again. ''Then don't..'' he said before capturing the Hyuuga's lips with his in a tender kiss.

Neji let his lavender hued eyes slip closed as he placed his hands on the other ninja's arms, squeezing the hard muscle underneath his fingers as he moved his lips against the Nara's. He felt himself being pulled closer and moaned softly when he felt a tongue brush against his bottom lip, working it's way into his mouth afterwords. The two appendages swirled around each other inside the Hyuuga's mouth as Shikamaru sneaked his hands under Neji's shirt.

The jounin gasped as he felt Shikamaru's cold fingers trace up the smooth skin of his back. The Nara smirked at this and removed his mouth from the Hyuuga's. He kissed the edge of Neji's jaw before moving to his neck.

The chuunin playfully bit at the left side of the Hyuuga's neck, sucking on it afterwords. Neji bit his lip as he felt this, knowing that there would be a purple mark on his neck once this was all over. The Hyuuga prodigy suddenly threw his head back and moaned when he felt lips connect to the part of his neck that connected to his shoulder.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow when he heard this. Experimentally, he sucked hard on that spot, resulting in Neji placing his hands on the Nara's chest as he moaned once again. '_Interesting..._' the shirker thought as he smirked against the smooth skin of the Hyuuga's neck.

Neji felt an electric tingling go up his neck and down his spine as Shikamaru licked and teased that one spot on his neck. A light shade of pink formed on his cheeks as he felt the Nara run his hands down his back and rest them on his ass.

Shikamaru squeezed the plump flesh in his hands as he worked on placing hickeys all over the other ninja's neck, marking him as his. He groaned when he felt Neji run his fingers over his hardened nipples before he was pulled up for a kiss by the nape of his neck.

The two shinobi kissed each other roughly, Neji being completely focused on this kiss that he didn't notice Shikamaru's hand moving from its spot on his rear.

''Aaah!'' Neji yelled in surprise as he felt the Nara stoke him through his pants. He felt his face heat up in embarrassment when Shikamaru bit his earlobe ''Hnnm...You like that, hunh?'' the Nara asked in a seductive tone before licking the shell of the Hyuuga's ear.

''Hnnn...Mmnnmmm...'' was the only reply Neji offered as he leaned his lower body towards the hand rubbing him. The Hyuuga reached his hands up the other boy's shirt and ran his hands over the hard muscle he found there. He should have felt ashamed to be doing something like this with another male but right now, he couldn't bring himself to care. This excited him, and he wasn't going to ask Shikamaru to stop anytime soon.

The prodigy gasped when he felt a hand grip him. He hadn't even noticed the Nara unzipping his pants. ''Oh god...mmmnnn..'' he panted as Shikamaru started to pump his hard organ.

The Nara smirked as he watched Neji's expression as he stroked him. ''What's this?" Shikamaru asked, running his thumb over the tip of Neji's member to find it slippery and wet. "Leaking already, huh?" He asked softly, starting to pick up his pace, Neji moaning loudly as he did so.

The Hyuuga shut his eyes tightly, losing himself to the pleasure as Shikamaru pumped him harder. He gasped when he felt the Nara attack that spot on his neck again before the Nara let go of him completely, receiving a confused look from the jounin.

''Shikamaru..'' he started but was cut off with a small kiss. The Nara smirked at him before dropping down onto his knees, licking the head of the prodigy's cock. Neji's eyes widened as he felt that wet muscle scrape over his hard flesh so teasingly.

''Nnnngghhh...'' he moaned, tossing his head back as the other boy swirled his tongue around Neji's organ before taking the whole piece of flesh into his mouth, receiving an excited yell from the Hyuuga.

Shikamaru bobbed his head as he sucked on the Hyuuga's member, hands on the prodigy's ass once more. He had to admit, he hadn't expected anything like this to happen when he got home tonight, but he sure as hell wasn't complaining.

The Nara felt his hair tie being pulled loose, his brown colored locks falling down to brush against his neck and cheeks. Shikamaru glanced up at the Hyuuga in front of him, smirking against the hard flesh in his mouth at the expression on the jounin's face as he continued his ministrations.

Neji was on cloud nine right now. His eyes were glazed over with lust as he watched Shikamaru suck him off. He was panting harshly and moaning every now and then as the Nara pleasured him. He had never been pleasured like this before and it felt completely amazing. But it had to end eventually, as the pressure he felt in his abdomen reminded him.

''Shika..mmnnnn...maru...'' he panted, moaning as he slipped his eyes closed. ''I'm...aaahh...coming..'' he got out, Shikamaru roughly gripping his rear in response.

The Hyuuga tossed his head back and yelled as he found his release, coming into the other ninja's mouth, Shikamaru swallowing the sticky white fluid as he did so. The Hyuuga felt his knees buckle as he came, causing the jounin to fall forward, putting his hands on the Nara's shoulders for support.

Once the Hyuuga was finished with his release, Shikamaru removed his mouth from the other boy's cock. He looked up at Neji, who was panting harshly and slightly shaking from all the attention. There was a silence between them while Neji fought to regain his breathing.

''So Neji..'' Shikamaru said, lavender eyes flicking down to look at him. ''Wanna come over again tomorrow for dinner?''

* * *

**Awe! Many loves to Nami for helping to convince Neji to go see Shika! He really needed that push! XD and woah! Hot damn Shika, you tease XD HaHa**

**This song makes me think of Neji for some reason: Siuil A Run by Celtic Woman 0.o I dont know why. lol XD**

**Anyways, thanks for the reviews you guys. You rock mi sox! X3 *gives each of you a cookie* I made them with love...and some of neji's hair :D Enjoy XD**


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer**: Do you really think I would be writing stories about these characters if I already owned them? -.-

The anime/manga series 'Naruto' along with all of its characters belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing.

**Well you wanted it, so here it is! XD**

**and if anyone cares, here are the songs I listened too whilst writing, O.O**

**Ancient Groover from Ragnarok Online, Super Market by ****Peter Weatherall... XD,**

**One more Time by Daft Punk, Ebay song by Weird Al Yankovich, and Naruto's Daily Life XD**

**And yes, I know I am weird.**

* * *

Nara Shikamaru yawned lazily as he flipped another page of the book he was reading. He had just woken up about four hours ago and had finally decided to get to work. The Nara didn't want to do the boring paperwork, but that apparently didn't matter to the hokage. She had just told him to stop complaining and grow up.

'_I need a better job_..' the lazy nin thought as he yawned, pawing through his book.

The next chuunin exams were coming up in a few months and he had to figure out who was going to be the proctors for the exams. He was thinking of just taking the easy way out and just letting people who have already proctored the exam do it, but Tsunade didn't want that. She wanted jounin that didn't have genin teams to do it for some reason, which was a pain because almost all of the proctors who had done the chuunin exams before now had teams of their own.

The shirker sighed as he stared at the page of possible candidates to proctor the exam. They were all either fairly young or semi old. He blinked slowly as he flipped the page, immediately stopping once he flipped to the page that had one jounin in particular, Hyuuga Neji.

The Nara stared at Neji's picture for a moment before looking down at the bottom of the page, seeing that it said in red letters that he wasn't available to proctor the exam because of his team.

Shikamaru's brown eyes wandered back up the page to Neji's picture. He stared at the elder shinobi's photograph, thinking about what they had done yesterday. He had gone a little too far, but it was Neji's fault. If he wasn't so irresistible then maybe Shikamaru could have found some self control.

He didn't regret it though and apparently neither did Neji. The Hyuuga had just said that he would be by for dinner tomorrow and left, so it wasn't like he was mad. If he was truly mad, then the jounin wouldn't want to see him again.

'_Oh yea_...' Shikamaru thought, remembering about their 'dinner date' tonight. He sighed to himself. '_I didn't go to the store yet.. I don't even know what he would want to eat_...'

The Nara got up from his spot on his couch, throwing his pencil on the soft material, not caring where he put it for now. He would find it later.

Shikamaru pushed the door to his bathroom open. The walls of the room were pale yellow and the floors were covered in white tiles. The bathtub, toilet and sink being of the same color as the floor tiles.

The sink was of medium size and there was a mirror medicine cabinet above it. The shower curtain was the same color as the walls with zigzagging purple lines. There was a white bath rug before the tub on the floor.

The toilet had a towel rack next to it and above that, there was a respective painting of lilacs on the wall, courtesy of Ino, and a few other small painting, courtesy of Chouji. Lastly, there was a single window in the room across from the door that bathed the room in sunlight.

The Nara opened a drawer that was under the sink and grabbed one of his many hair ties. He pulled his hair up in it's usual position and tied the chocolate brown strands together as he walked out of his bathroom and across the hallway to his bedroom.

This particular room of the apartment was Shikamaru's favorite for obvious reasons. It was his own personal space and even though he didn't keep it clean all the time, he still cherished it. The walls were dark brown and there was a pair of antlers hanging from the wall over the mirror. The mirror was large and square. It hung right above his light brown dresser, which had some of its drawers open, various piece of clothing hanging out of it.

To the right of the dresser was a large closet with sliding doors. The Nara usually packed all of his better looking clothes in there, along with other random items that he didn't bother to put away. To the left of the room was Shikamaru's bed..

The piece of furniture was HUGE. The only sheets that were currently on the bed were white, the rest of the sheets on the floor from when Shikamaru had kicked them off during the middle of the night because he had gotten too warm. There was a large white pillow near the top of the bed and it had two maroon colored pillows next to it.

Above the bed was a japanese fan. The fan was as large as Temari's and on it there was a painting of a young woman dressed in a beautiful kimono dancing in the woods with two small fans. There were deer frolicking out of the trees and brush to prance around the woman as she danced. The fan had been a present from his father, it having been passed down to him when he moved out to live on his own.

The woman on the fan was the lady of lore who had founded the Nara clan hundreds of years ago. Her name was Lady Kuudori Shika Nara. She had loved to dance in the woods whenever she had the chance, it was just so quiet and peaceful there, no one bothered to disturb her. She was so graceful and beautiful that whenever she danced in the woods, deer never feared the thought of approaching her. The woman had been so inspired by the deer's graceful power that she had decided to make it her clan's symbol and thus, the Nara Clan was created along with the Nara Forest, where she had supposedly danced. Every Nara knew of this tale and most of them had paintings or fans of her in their homes, Shikamaru and his parents included.

Surrounding the large fan, there were other fans of smaller size that had paintings of deer and other animals of nature on them. Lastly, in the far right corner of the room, there was a glass door that led outside to his balcony. On the balcony, there were various plants of different colors sitting in pots, soaking up the sun of the new day.

The plants had been yet another present from his blonde haired team mate, Chouji and Asuma having brought some as well, adding up to about eleven different species of plants just hanging around on his balcony. It created a sort of garden in the sky and although the Nara wasn't a fan of having to water them, he did like the idea of having a small jungle high above the rest of the world, so it didn't bother him much when he made daily trips out there to water the plants.

Shikamaru grabbed his usual shirt from out of his dresser and put it on, making sure to grab his money before he left. He didn't bother to put his chuunin vest on as he left the apartment, going to the grocery store.

* * *

Shikamaru sighed as he walked down the aisles of the super market, trying to think of what Neji would want to eat. It didn't matter to him what they had, as long as it wasn't boiled eggs. He_ hated_ boiled eggs. As the Nara was browsing around in the vegetable aisle, he caught sight of a familiar Hyuuga. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at this and went over to her.

''Hey, Hinata.'' the Nara greeted lazily as he approached the Hyuuga Heiress, hands stuffed in his pockets.

Hinata, who had been inspecting a plastic box full of strawberries, turned around when she heard her name being called. ''Oh, Shikamaru. Good morning'' she said in her usual quiet tone, smiling softly at him.

''I didn't know you shopped here..'' Shikamaru said, looking down at the bundle of strawberries in her hands.

Hinata looked down at the red fruit as well and shook her head. ''I don't normally. I...well, I'm baking a cake for Neji-niisan. I haven't seen him in a while since I was on a mission and I heard he had finally gotten his team so.. I decided to make him something to congratulate him.'' she answered truthfully.

''You know ya need more than strawberries to make a cake, right?'' Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow.

''I know, I already have all the other ingredients I need..the strawberries are going to go on top.'' the kunoichi explained

''Oh'' the Nara replied.

''So what brings you here?'' Hinata asked softly, curious.

''Well I sort of..ran out of food.'' Shikamaru said, scratching the back of his neck. ''And I have a friend coming over tonight so..'' he said, inwardly smirking at the idea of Neji coming over tonight while his outside expression continued to look the same as it always did.

''Is it Neji-niisan?'' Hinata questioned, noticing how Shikamaru tensed up slightly at this. ''I heard from my little sister, Hanabi, that he wouldn't be home tonight so I just assumed since you two must have spent time together at the academy...'' she explained, watching him relax when she did.

''Yea, its Neji. He's sort of been having trouble with his team.'' The Nara lied smoothly, shrugging.

''Oh.'' Hinata said, not being able to help thinking that something was off. Why would he make something if they were just going to talk? She didn't think much of it though, thinking that they were probably just trying to be better friends or something. ''What are you going to make?''

''I don't know about the entire meal but I was thinking about maybe a pumpkin pie for desert or something..'' Shikamaru said, having seen pumpkin pies for sale at the front of the store.

''No, you shouldn't do that.'' Hinata said, shaking her head. ''Neji-niisan doesn't like pumpkins.''

Shikamaru raised both of his eyebrows. ''What else doesn't he like?'' he asked

The kunochi thought for a moment, bringing her finger to her lips in thought. ''He doesn't like anything spicy...'' she responded before getting an idea ''Would you like me to help you pick something out that he would like?'' she offered.

'.._Hinata Hyuuga is a god. I am __**not**__ worthy._' Shikamaru thought, having never been more grateful in his life to know the dark indigo-haired hyuuga than he was now.

''Yea, thanks. I would really appreciate it.'' the Nara responded, nodding.

Hinata smiled at him before nodding as well. ''Alright.''

* * *

In the end, Hinata had suggested that Shikamaru make Neji's favorite food, herring soba. Along with the soba, he was also going to make rice, asparagus, bread rolls and chocolate cream brule with hot fudge, cookie crumbs and whip cream on top. The herring was also going to be cooked in teryaki sauce to give it extra flavor.

When both he and the kunoichi were buying this, all Shikamaru could think about was how much of a pain it was going to be to make all of it, but once Hinata explained how to do everything, it wasn't that bad. It wouldn't even take that long to make all of it.

Shikamaru sighed as he put the food away. He still had a decent amount of time before Neji got here, so he _should _clean up his apartment. But the Nara lost all inspiration to do so when he saw the horrible mess he called a living room. It was still the same as when the Hyuuga had come over to apologize.

'_Ugh...What a drag.._' the Nara thought, scratching the back of his head as he looked at his living room. He passed a glance at the unfinished work on his coffee table then looked at the floor of the room again. '_Cleaning wins_..'

With that thought in mind, Shikamaru made himself busy with cleaning up the scrolls he didn't need and bringing them into his bedroom like before and tossing them onto his bed. He picked up the used coffee cups from his table and set them down in the sink.

As he was picking up the last of the scrolls on the floor to bring into his room, a thought hit him. Neji was coming over... and if he played his cards right..

The Nara walked into his bedroom and looked at his bed. '_I might need that_...' he thought, actually getting rid of the scrolls and thoroughly cleaning his apartment.

* * *

''I...can't move...''

''You can't or you won't?'' came the smooth reply

''Both!'' Youji yelled at his sensei, glaring at him from his spot on the ground.

Neji and his team had been training ever since six AM and all of the genin were feeling the strain. And Neji, being the stubborn Hyuuga he is, wanted them to keep going. He wanted to see how far they could go until they reached their limit. It could prove useful information in the future.

Both Nami and Damien were panting from their spots in front of their sensei, Nami hunched over with her hands on her knees as she breathed, Damien being the only one strong enough to keep standing. Even Stubba was sprawled out on the ground, tongue hanging lazily out of her mouth as she panted.

''You three are pathetic.'' Neji said, unimpressed as he relaxed his body from it's fighting position.

''Well eeexxxccccuuusseee us for not being as awesome as you apparently are, Neji-sensei!'' Youji shot back, annoyed.

''Give us some credit, sensei...'' Damien said in between breaths ''We've only been ninja for a little over a week.''

''Hn..'' was the Hyuuga's only reply. He was actually impressed by them. It had been well over eight hours that they have been going non stop, a little farther than what his own team had been able to do back when he was a genin. He wasn't going to tell them that though, then they would get too overconfident, especially Youji. It's like they say, give them an inch and they'll take a mile.

''Alright.'' Neji said, looking up at the sky to see the sun slowly going down, casting the world into the dark shadow of night. Speaking of shadows.. ''That's enough for today.''

''Thank god!'' Youji said, waving his arms about. ''I thought it would never end! Someone help me up! Preferably Nami..'' he said, grinning at his red headed team mate.

''No thanks'' Nami said, frowning ''I'm going home. I'll see you guys tomorrow.'' Nami said, smiling at the three of them before taking her leave.

''I'm going to be leaving as well. Come back here at the same time tomorrow.'' Neji said, leaving. He couldn't help himself from smirking when he heard the two boys squabbling over something or other. They were always doing that...

As Neji made his way to the Hyuuga Compound, he found himself thinking about his upcoming meeting with Shikamaru. He wasn't nervous, no, but he wasn't entirely calm either.. It was hard to explain.

''Neji-niisan''

The addressed turned around when he heard his name being called, smiling at his cousin when she walked up to him. The two of them had grown considerably closer since their days of being genin. He didn't hate her anymore and she had grown to forgive him shortly after the fight he had with Naruto.

''Hinata-sama.'' He greeted.

''I thought you wouldn't be home tonight?'' Hinata asked, confused

''Who told you that?'' Neji asked, frowning.

''Hanabi did.'' Hinata responded softly

''That's right... I told her that yesterday.'' Neji said, more to himself than to his cousin.

''Then, why are you here?''

''I have to change before I go.'' Neji repsonded

''Oh. Alright, well have fun tonight Neji-niisan.'' Hinata said, smiling softly at him.

''I will'' Neji nodded, bowing to her before taking his leave.

Hinata watched him go with a smile on her face, knowing exactly where he was going tonight.

* * *

Shikamaru looked up from his cooking when he heard a knock at his door. He passed a glance at his clock. Yep. It was Neji. He shut off the stove and removed the food he was cooking from the hot burner, letting it cool down some.

''Come in.'' He hollered, wiping his hands with a paper towel instead of on his pants like he usually did. He didn't think that much with what he was wearing. In fact, he would have worn the same thing he was wearing this morning, but it had become incredibly hot in his apartment and his black turtleneck sweater wasn't helping so he decided to wear a fishnet undershirt that cut off a little under his shoulders, a grey tank top with the Nara symbol on his chest and a brown pair of pants.

Shikamaru slid the shoji door that separated his living room from his kitchen and smiled when he saw Neji next to the door, taking off his shoes. ''Hey..'' he said, causing Neji to look up at him.

''Hey'' the Hyuuga responded back, standing up straight as he took in Shikamaru's appearance. ''Did you dress up just for me?'' he asked, smirking as he thought of how sexy the Nara looked in that outfit.

''No. This is my 'It's-way-too-hot-out' ensemble.'' Shikamaru said and laughed. ''But I'm glad you like it anyway.'' he said, having noticed how Neji was staring at him as if he were a piece of meat.

''Tch..'' Neji said, walking past the Nara into the living room, somewhat surprised that there wasn't anything on the floor. ''You..cleaned?'' he asked, looking around the room.

''Yea, well..'' Shikamaru started, scratching the back of his neck. ''I didn't want you to trip and get injured. Then I would have to pay for your hospital bills.'' he said, shrugging. ''It would be such a drag..''

''How thoughtful of you.'' Neji said sarcastically, smirking at the other nin.

''Yea yea.'' Shikamaru said, going into the kitchen. ''Come on. The food's almost done.'' he said. The Nara wouldn't admit it, but he was slightly nervous of what Neji would think of his cooking. He hadn't cooked for some one else in a long time and he didn't know how it was all going to taste.

''What are you making?'' Neji asked, walking into the room, taking time to look around before taking a seat at the kitchen table.

''Rice..'' Shikamaru said, a light, teasing tone to his voice as he stirred the white grains in a pot on the stove.

''Is that all?'' Neji asked as he sat back in his chair.

''Are you kidding me?'' Shikamaru said, looking at the Hyuuga from over his shoulder. ''This is hardly enough for one person, let alone two.''

''Then what else is there?'' the jounin asked, slightly annoyed by the teasing.

''Asparagus, bread rolls'' The Nara said, taking the basket of bread and setting it on the table in front of Neji ''And herring soba as the main thing''

The Hyuuga raised one of his slender eyebrows. How did he know that was his favorite food? It must have just been coincidence. ''Anything else?'' he asked

''Well yea. You didn't think I'd make all of this healthy crap and then not give you something to rot your teeth? I have brule for dessert.'' Shikamaru said, smirking as he Neji's soba in front of him and setting the asparagus and rice down in separate bowls on the table for either of them to take as much as they wished. He set his own meal in front of his own chair and sat down afterwords.

Neji watched the Nara as the chuunin began to eat his food. '_He did...all this for me?_' he thought, somewhat touched by the gesture as he started to eat as well.

* * *

The rest of the meal was filled with talk about the day, Neji's team and other things that they most likely won't remember when they left to go home that evening. The meal had been much better than Shikamaru had originally thought it was going to be and he was quite proud of himself when the Hyuuga had told him that it was 'delicious'.

After dinner, Neji had decided that he wanted to see the rest of the apartment, seeing as he had only ever set foot in the living room and now the kitchen. Shikamaru had been taken aback by the thought of Neji suddenly wanting to see his apartment but he had just shrugged and decided to show it to him anyway. What harm could it do?

Since there wasn't that much to show, since Neji had already seen the two biggest rooms in the apartment, the tour came to an end quickly, Shikamaru deciding to show Neji his bedroom last. ''And this is my room.'' he said, lazily opening the door and walking inside, the Hyuuga following after him.

Neji took in the sight before him as he followed the Nara into the room. The room was about as big as the living room but the two rooms didn't have the same atmosphere. This room made Neji feel more at home than the living room did and the colors reminded him of a log cabin so much that he had almost caught himself thinking that if he walked outside, he would find himself in a forest rather than the middle of a village.

Lavender colored eyes skimmed the room, coming to rest on the fan above the bed. He walked towards it, letting his eyes roam over the delicate picture that was painted on the object. The fan was beautiful and Neji couldn't deny that it was a work of art in every sense of the word.

He looked from the drawing of the deer to the woman dancing in the forest. His eyes narrowed as they traced over her features, tiny waist, tall figure, long chocolate colored hair and a pretty face. As he was looking over her, he didn't notice that Shikamaru had come to stand next to him and stared at the painting with him.

''Her name is Lady Kuudori Shika Nara.'' he said softly, Neji glancing over at him out of the corner of his eyes. ''She founded my clan when deer came to her while she was dancing one day in the Nara Forest.'' Shikamaru said, brown eyes tracing over the paining on the fan that he had seen ever since he was born.

''I see... she must be highly respected in your clan then.'' Neji said, turning to face the shadow-nin.

''Yea. I guess you could say that she's like a god to to my clan or something, but as for me, I don't know if I believe in her or not.'' he said, shrugging when Neji gave him a questioning look. ''There's no proof that she ever existed.''

''Hm...'' was the Hyuuga's only reply as he focused his attention back to the fan.

''Yea, well..'' Shikamaru said after a moment of silence. ''There's one more place to my apartment. Come on.'' he said, Neji snapping his eyes to him as the Nara moved to the glass door on the other side of the room.

Neji cast one last glance at the fan before following Shikamaru out the glass door and onto the balcony. It wasn't that big, it could only hold three people at most comfortably because of all the plants that were there.

''You never said you had a balcony.'' Neji said, going over to the edge, placing his forearms on the wall of the balcony, looking out over the village that was cast in darkness. Lights lit up some of the darkness, but not enough to hinder anyone's view of the sky up above their heads that was filled with bright, twinkling stars.

''You never asked.'' was Shikamaru's smooth reply as he rested his side against the wall of the balcony, his elbow resting on the top of it as he looked at the Hyuuga before him.

''Hmph.'' Neji snorted, shaking his head at the Nara's behavior. ''Well I never thought you would have one here. They aren't exactly common in an apartment complex such as this..''

''That's true..'' Shikamaru said, shrugging. ''I guess I'm just lucky..'' he said, grinning. His gaze wandered down Neji's body, seeing how relaxed he was. He didn't look like he had a care in the world, and knowing full well how the other shinobi always acted so uptight around others, it made him feel slightly warm inside that the Hyuuga was so relaxed when it was just the two of them.

''Neji...'' he called out before he could stop himself, causing the Hyuuga to turn his head in his direction. The Nara couldn't stop his eyes from wandering once again to those lips that he had ravished yesterday.

Neji, noticing this, smirked and turned to fully face Shikamaru. He didn't pull away when he found the shadow-nin moving closer to him, in fact, he found himself leaning in as well until his lips covered the Nara's.

The kiss was chaste at first, just simple lips on lips but it quickly became something more when Shikamaru opened his mouth to trace his tongue over Neji's bottom lip.

Neji, who had half expected this, opened his mouth without complaint, allowing their tongues to dance together in that exotic dance they partook in not even a day earlier. The Hyuuga placed his hands on the Nara's hips as they kissed, feeling his back hit the wall of the balcony when Shikamaru pivoted them so that he had Neji trapped between himself and the wall.

The shadow-nin rested his hands on the wall of the balcony, on either side of the gentle fist user as he kissed him, both shinobi so engrossed in each other that they failed to notice that they had an audience.

* * *

Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka were walking home from the night shift at the hospital when they found themselves closing in on Shikamaru's apartment. It wasn't uncommon that this happened, both girls had to come this way to get to their homes and usually stopped to chat with the Nara.

''I bet he's sleeping'' Ino commented dryly as she looked up at the back of the apartment, her hand on her hip as she looked up at the Nara's balcony.

''Well it _is_ around midnight, Ino-pig.'' Sakura said, annoyed that they had been assigned the night shift...again. She sauntered lazily up to her blonde friend, not caring that she was being glared at by the blonde woman. ''To be honest, I wish I was sleeping too.'' she said, sighing as she stretched her arms over her head, the limbs having become sore from all the writing she had done today about her patient's conditions.

''Hm...I guess you're right. I'll just see him tomorrow then-hey wait!'' Ino said, cocking her head to the side as she saw two people up there. One had their hair in a pineapple shape, the blond being right to assume it was Shikamaru, but the other figure had long, dark hair. ''Is that...TenTen?'' she asked, thinking that if the brunette kunoichi was to let her hair down, it would be about that long. Maybe..

''It can't be.'' Sakura said, placing the side of her hand to her forehead as she stared up at the couple in disbelief.

''Oooh! I can't wait to tell Lee his girlfriend is cheating on him!'' Ino said, grinning as she pumped her fist in the air. ''I _love_ stuff like this!''

''Hold your horses.'' Sakura huffed, giving her best friend a pointed look. ''That might not even_ be_ TenTen. I could be someone else so don't just go assuming things. Remember when you almost ruined Hinata's relationship with Naruto when you thought you saw him-''

''I know I know. You don't need to bring it up.'' Ino said, scratching the back of her head as she looked down at the ground. ''I said I was sorry like a bajillion times.'' she said sheepishly before looking back up at her team mate. ''But I just want to know..'' she whispered, frowning as she crossed her arms..

''Well then ask TenTen when you see her tomorrow. And if it was her, _then_ you can destroy her reputation.'' Sakura said, rubbing her temples as she stalked off away from the scene.

''I won't ruin her reputation! I'm just curious!'' Ino hollered after her best friend, following her away from the apartment, intent on getting to the bottom of this tomorrow.

* * *

**OH MY GGGOOOOODDDD! I _LOVE_ SHIKAMARU'S ROOM! XDDDDDD **

**Especially the balcony! woot! XD And oh noes! Shika's boarded the gossip train! Not good! :O And zomg you guys, ive written a lot and we aren't even into the main plot yet XD but do not fear, it's a comin!**

**Guys, thank you SOOOO much for all the support :] You don't know how happy it makes me when I read reviews. They inspire me X3**

**Anyways, please review, good or bad, I want to hear your thoughts :D Please be silent readers no more :]**


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer**: Do you really think I would be writing stories about these characters if I already owned them? -.-

The anime/manga series 'Naruto' along with all of its characters belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing.

* * *

'_I should learn to get ready faster in the morning_...' Yamanka Ino thought to herself as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop on her way to the Hyuuga Compound. She was to meet TenTen there and once Hinata was ready, all three girls were going out for breakfast.

Over the years between their first chuunin exam and present day, Ino, TenTen, Hinata, and Sakura all grew quite close. The friendship had first started with TenTen apologizing for her sour teammate to Hinata in the hospital after the bun haired girl had recovered from her own match when they were thirteen. The two had quickly become friends and Sakura was added to the mix shortly after when Naruto and Hinata had gotten together. Ino had been the last to join their little group, becoming friends with all of them through Sakura.

''Hey! TenTen!'' the honey blonde called as she dropped down by her friend.

Said brunette wasn't at all surprised to see the girl just randomly appear next to her though, ninja did it all the time, herself included. ''Hey.'' she greeted, smiling at Ino before frowning and looking behind her for said girl's best friend. ''Sakura's not with you?''

''Nope. She has work.'' Ino said simply, placing her hands on her hips as she looked up at the building before her. ''So this is the Hyuuga Compound, eh?''. The compound looked to be rather old, but even so, it held an air of grace and power to it. It was quite intimidating, Ino had to admit, but when you spend your life walking through the minds of psychopaths and serial killers, nothing really scares you anymore.

''Yep. This is it.'' TenTen said from her place against the wall, body resting against the wood of the compound as she watched the kunoichi frown up at the home of her team mate.

''Hm..'' Ino said, biting the inside of her lip as she looked at the old building. '_So this is the big bad Hyuuga Compound...Heh, whatever_..' she thought, unimpressed. ''So how long have you been waiting out here?'' she asked, changing the subject.

''Hm..about eight minutes or so.'' the brunette responded, shielding her eyes with her hand from the sun as she looked up at the sky to determine the time. ''Hinata told me yesterday that she might be a little late getting ready so I don't mind though.''

''Oh..'' the Yamanka said, bringing her thumb up to her mouth and biting on her nail. '_So I've got time then...Well, its now or never..._' she thought to herself before redirecting her thoughts to the weapon mistress. ''Hey TenTen..'' she said, catching the girls attention. ''Have you been...hanging out with Shikamaru lately?'' the blonde asked, lacing her arms around her back, hands gripping her elbows as she discreetly kicked some dirt around with her left foot, impatient for the answer.

''Shikamaru?'' the brunette asked, frowning as she brought her hand down, a calculating look on her face as she looked the blonde over, trying to figure out her motive for asking such a thing. TenTen did know him, they were acquaintances, but she didn't know him well enough to just randomly hang out with him. ''No, why?''

''Hm, are you sure?'' Ino asked, bringing her pointer finger up to her bottom lip as she too gave a calculating look to her friend.

''I think I know who I spend my time with.'' TenTen huffed, placing her hands on her hips.

''Oh really? You sound like you're trying to hide something from me, TenTen.'' the blonde said, raising an eyebrow as she bit into her lip, her turquoise colored eyes carefully analyzing the weapon master's facial expression.

The brunette frowned and let her hands fall limp at her sides ''What is there to hide?'' she asked, confused.

''Oh, I don't know.'' Ino said, turning around and shrugging. She looked over her shoulder and gave her friend a smug look. ''Maybe...a secret affair?''

''W-what?'' TenTen sputtered, glaring at the other kunoichi ''You think I would do that to Lee? With...Shikamaru no less?'' she asked, mentally shuttering at the thought. The shadow-nin wasn't her type in the slightest.

''Then how do you explain last night, huh?'' the blonde huffed, crossing her arms over her chest as she turned to face TenTen. ''I _saw_ you up there with him.''

''What are you talking about?''

''You know what I'm talking about. Look, I won't be mad at you. I'm just curious.'' Ino said, raising her hands in front of her in defense.

''I'm serious Ino, what the hell are you talking about?'' TenTen asked, getting irritated.

''Stop denying it! I'm not even mad okay?... Even though you _are_ cheating on your boyfriend behind his back..'' the blonde muttered the last part under her breath.

''What kind of person do you think I _am_?''

The two kunoichi were so absorbed in their argument that they didn't notice Hinata exiting from the compound. She had just finished getting ready to have breakfast with her friends and she comes out of her house to find the two fighting? She hadn't expected that..TenTen and Ino usually got along so well..

''Um, girls?'' she asked, trying to intervene and put an end to their fighting.

''Apparently someone who won't even look for help when she needs it. You have a problem, TenTen. And I can help, if you let me. Just explain it to me so that I can understand.''

''What's wrong with you today? You know I'm not like that.'' the weapon mistress asked, thrusting her hands up to the sky in frustration.

''I thought you weren't..I guess I was wrong..'' Ino said softly, only adding fuel to the ever growing fire.

''Whats going on out here?'' a smooth voice said from behind Hinata, startling the girl momentarily.

''They um...they're having a little argument.'' Hinata said, frowning as she watched her two friends yell at each other.

''About what?'' Neji asked, frowning as well.

''I don't know.'' Hinata responded as she looked back at her cousin.''You better get going, though. I can see Namine coming from up the road.''

The Hyuuga prodigy, looked to his right and sure enough, a small figure of red was coming their way. ''Hm..very well then. I'll take my leave. I trust that you will..handle this.'' he said, frowning as his team mate produced a sickle and chain from nowhere and threatened Ino with it.

''I will.'' Hinata said, smiling at her cousin as she nodded.

Neji nodded back before heading up the road to meet his red headed student so that they could walk together to the training grounds.

Hinata watched him go for a moment before returning his attention back to the fighting kunoichi. They were both yelling in each other's faces and Ino to quickly dodge an attack from TenTen as the brunette whipped her weapon at her.

The Hyuuga heiress sighed to herself. This was going to be a long day...

* * *

''Oooohhh...'' TenTen said as she leaned back in her chair. ''I get it now.''

''Yea, you see?'' Ino asked, taking a sip of her orange juice. She had just explained what she had seen last night to the Hinata and TenTen while they were waiting for their food to arrive.

''Why didn't you just tell me that before? You could have saved yourself that bruise..'' TenTen said, frowning.

''Heh heh..sorry..'' Ino said, rubbing her sore arm with her hand as she grinned sheepishly. ''So. It really wasn't you?'' she asked sadly.

TenTen responded by shaking her head.

''Aw! Rats! I was sure it was you..'' the blonde kunoichi huffed, crossing her arms as she glared at her glass of orange juice as if it had all the answers. She bit her lip once more before looking over to Hinata, who had been strangely quiet throughout the whole story. ''Hey Hinata..you okay?''

Hinata, who had been thinking to herself quietly, looked up to find two pairs of eyes on her. ''Huh? Oh..yes, I'm fine.'' she said, reassuringly.

''Alright..If you're sure..'' TenTen said, staring at her for a few moments more before turning her attention back to the honey blonde across from her. Both kunoichi didn't believe the indigo-haired kunoichi, but decided to let it slide for now. She would tell them when she was ready.

The Hyuuga heiress stared down at the table of the restaurant as her thoughts consumed her...

_'She had really long almost black hair' Ino had said 'Oh! I'm not sure but I think she was wearing something white too..'_

_'Long dark hair, white clothes...' _Hinata thought, frowning as she started to put two and two together.

_''Oh. Alright, well have fun tonight Neji-niisan.'' Hinata said, smiling softly at him._

_''I will'' Neji nodded, bowing to her before taking his leave._

_Hinata watched him go with a smile on her face, knowing exactly where he was going tonight._

_'Shikamaru's house...' _she thought to herself, looking up and out of one of the window's of the restaurant, her gaze coming to rest on a small blue bird sitting happily on her nest of eggs. '_That girl Ino spoke of...It couldn't have been Neji-niisan...could it?_'

* * *

'_Work work work...that's all I do..man, what ever happened to just going wherever the breeze takes me? So much for that._' Nara Shikamaru thought to himself as he wrote down names of students who were going to be in Iruka's classroom once the academy classes started again.

Classes were going to be starting in one month and Shikamaru would have put it off until the last minute like he usually did, but he had been threatened by both Iruka-sensei and Lady Tsunade to get it done now or there ''would be hell to pay''.

The Nara yawned as he picked up another piece of his food with his chopsticks, He stared at the succulent little fish before plopping it into his mouth. The chuunin skimmed his bored eyes over the names of children that would be attending the academy next time around, his mind thinking about other things instead of actually reading.

'_What a drag...This is so boring.._.' he thought, sighing before there was suddenly a knock at his front door. '_Thank god_..' the shadow-nin thought as he got up to answer the door. '_Something to distract me from all this stupid paperwork_.'

Shikamaru scratched the back of his head tiredly as he finally made it over to the door. He gripped the handle and turned, about to tell whoever it was to just come in when a blur of yellow and purple dashed into his home without permission.

''Hey Shikamaru'' Ino said as she turned around, smiling at her team mate as she held a medium sized painting of purple orchids and irises in her hands. She moved her baby blue eyes around the room, an irritated look forming in them at how messy this place was..again.

''Ino..another one?'' The shadow-nin complained as he shut the door with his foot, not really caring that the kunoichi had just stormed into his place without permission. She did it all the time.

''Yes another one.'' The blonde woman huffed, irritated over the fact that he was making a fuss over her painting. She held the painting with one hand while she placed the other on her hip. ''You told me I could decorate the bathroom how I wanted, so I am.'' she said, causing Shikamaru to sigh. He had asked his team to help with the decorating when he had first moved in. He didn't really care how his apartment looked anyways so he let his friends decide for him. Chouji decorated the kitchen, Asuma got the living room and hallway and Ino was assigned the bathroom. So far she had done a pretty good job, but this was pushing it.

''Yea but don't you think one painting is enough? My bathroom isn't exactly big..'' Shikamaru asked as he scratched the back of his head, yawning.

''No I don't think one is enough.'' Ino snapped quickly, turning around and going into the bathroom.

Shikamaru sighed at this and followed her. Once he reached his bathroom, he lazily leaned his body against the door frame as he watched the blonde woman look about the room, trying to find the best place to hang the artwork.

''Why do you insist on bringing these things anyway? It's not like I'm trying to impress anybody..'' the Nara asked, not really wanting another painting in his bathroom that he was never going to look at.

''Hm. You never know.'' Ino said, holding her painting to a spot on the wall that she found suitable, taking a step back slightly to see if it would look good there. ''You might find some girl one day that might like it..'' she said and gave him a small smile, trying to be subtle about what she really wanted.

But unfortunately for her, Shikamaru knew Ino better than that and could see that she wanted something out of him. Whether it be a favor or just an answer on something, he didn't know but he did know one thing, whatever it was, he wasn't going to like it. He could tell by the way she rested her foot against the floor by her toes instead of letting it lay flat against the floor. She always did that when she was about to do or say something troublesome...

''What do you mean by that?'' the Nara asked, frowning.

''Nothing.'' Ino said sweetly, putting the painting down and bumping into him as she left the bathroom to go into the kitchen.

''No. It's not nothing. Don't even try to play this game with me. What do you want?'' Shikamaru asked, annoyed, as he sauntered into the kitchen after her.

''What game?'' The purple clad ninja asked innocently as she opened a kitchen drawer, rummaging through it for what she wanted.

''Troublesome woman..'' Shikamaru whispered under his breathe, unaffected by the glare she shot at him. ''Just tell me what you want so you can leave and give me some peace and quiet.'' he said, no longer finding relief from her distracting him from his paperwork.

''Gee Shikamaru, I didn't know you loved me this much.'' she said sarcastically ''I just wanted to catch up with you, that's all'' Ino responded, ramming into Shikamaru's side as she strode past him, a hammer and two nails in her hands.

The Nara glared at her retreating form, resisting the urge to just kick her out as he once again walked back down the hallway to his bathroom. ''Look, I already know you didn't come here to chat. So just tell me what you want already.'' he said, his voice sharp and to the point from his frustration over her.

''Alright alright.'' Ino said, smiling as she gave in. She placed a nail where she wanted it, bringing back the hammer and swinging it twice at the head of the nail ''I sort of..saw you with someone last night.'' she said, her eyes focusing on the nail and hammer as she continued to pound away at the metal.

''So? I have more friends than just you and Chouji you know.'' Shikamaru responded smoothly, not liking where this was going. If she was talking about what he thought she was talking about, this wouldn't end very well.

''I know that.'' Ino said sharply, pulling the hammer away from the nail and pointing it at him. ''I saw you making out with some girl on your balcony last night.''

''Oh?'' Shikamaru asked, a bored expression coming back onto his face as he pretended to be indifferent about his whole conversation when he was really having a mental panic attack right now. '_Crap_.._So she found out this early, huh? What a drag_.. _Neji isn't going to like this_..' he thought to himself, remembering that the Hyuuga had stated yesterday that he wanted to keep their relationship 'private' for the first couple of weeks so that they could focus more on each other rather than what everyone was thinking about them.

''Yea. So who was she?'' Ino asked, placing her hand that was holding the hammer on her hip as she looked him over.

''I don't know.'' Shikamaru said, shrugging.

''You don't know?'' Ino asked, raising an eyebrow as she gave him a hard look. She knew where this was going. He was 'playing dumb'.

''Yea. I don't.'' the Nara responded, shrugging as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

''Hm...'' was all the blonde offered in response as she took the other nail and pounded it into the wall. ''So what you're saying is that you made out with some girl on your balcony last night... but you don't know who she is? Is that right?''

''Yep.'' Shikamaru said simply.

''Uh-huh..'' Ino said sarcastically as she put the hammer down by the sink, ''Well you know what I think?'' she asked as she picked up her painting and hung it on the wall, fixing it so that it wasn't crooked. ''I think you know exactly who she is.'' the Yamanaka said, turning to face him as she crossed her arms over his chest. ''And I think you just don't want to tell me because you think of me as a gossip train, isn't that right?''

The Nara made to interject but Ino cut him off ''Well if that's how you see me then fine.'' She huffed, bumping into him once again as she went into the hallway. ''But I will figure this out Shikamaru, just you wait.'' she said, turning around to stare at him once she reached the door. ''And I am _not_ going to start gossiping about it once I do.'' she said, her nose in the air as she turned her chin away from him.

''I never said you were going to.'' Shikamaru said, trying to defend himself.

''Ha! Yea right..'' Ino said, turning her chin in the other direction. ''Oh and by the way, I do have another reason for being here.'' she said angrily.

The Nara raised both of his eyebrows, waiting for her to continue.

''I saw Chouji this morning and he said that he wants you to come see him later.'' Ino said, returning her face back to its normal position.

''He's back from his mission already?'' Shikamaru asked, lighting up at the thought of his best friend. Chouji had been gone on a two month long mission and he was supposed to return next week so the Nara hadn't been expecting this at all.

''Yep.'' Ino said, smiling as she raised her pointer finger in the air. She placed her hand on her hip as she winked at him. ''The mission was actually a lot easier than Tsunade-sama thought it was going to be. Well anyways, Shikamaru. I'm gonna go. I'll see ya around.'' She said, opening the door and giving him a little wave as she stepped outside. Once she had both feet out in the hallway, she stopped and pointed at him, one eye closed as she said smirked challengingly ''And don't you forget what I said. I will find out..Bye!'' Ino said, closing the door and leaving afterwords.

''Awe man...'' Shikamaru said as he scratched the back of his neck, his eyes staring intently on his closed door. ''This sucks..'' Just how in the hell was he going to explain this to Neji? ''I'm gonna have to ask Chouji about all this. What a drag..''

* * *

_Knock knock_...Tsunade raised her head when she heard someone at her office door. Her golden eyes widened slightly and she quickly drank the rest of her sake and shoved the cup in her drawer while she hid the bottle under her desk. ''Enter.'' She said in a professional tone.

When it was only Neji that was at the door she sighed and brought back out her sake. ''Oh, it's only you Hyuuga..'' she said as he shut the door. She poured herself some sake and took a sip. ''Aaaahhh. That hit the spot.'' she said, smiling as she felt the cool liquid run down her throat. She turned her attention back to Neji and sighed. ''So, Neji. What are you doing here?'' she asked, her cheeks slightly flushed from the alchohol as she swished her sake bottle around in her hand.

The Hyuuga prodigy raised an eyebrow at this as he made his way over to her desk ''With all due respect, hokage-sama. You called for me.'' he explained.

''I did?'' Tsunade slurred, more to herself than to Neji as she raised on of her eyebrows at him, a confused look on her face before she suddenly sat up straight. ''Oh yes. I did'' the fifth hokage said, putting her sake down. She opened her desk drawer and pulled a folder out of it. ''I have a mission for you.'' she said, opening the folder and reading the contents inside. ''You're going on an A rank mission tomorrow morning with Ino Yamanaka, Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka.'' she handed Neji a form that was inside the folder as she explained further. ''The mission is to locate one of Orochimaru's lairs that have been rumored to be somewhere in the Land of Tea. You've been there countless times already so this shouldn't be a difficult task for you.''

Neji took the form from her and looked it over as Tsunade placed her elbows on her desk, her chin resting on her laced fingers as she continued to explain ''Even though you could probably do this alone, Kiba and Shino will be there help you locate the hideout and Ino will be there in case someone needs medical attention. You might encounter enemy ninja on your way, Orochimaru doesn't usually keep these things unguarded.'' she said. Neji nodded at this and listened intently as she continued, ''This mission is crucial for the Land of Tea as well as for Konoha. If you pull this off, our peace treaty with them will be stabilized.'' she said, pausing for a moment before continuing. ''The others will be informed of this after you leave and will be told to meet you at the gate early next morning. Also, I am making you team captain, Neji. Do not fail this task.''

The Hyuuga was silent as he read over the contents on the paper silently. ''Hokage-sama?''

''What?'' Tsunade asked, lifting her head from her fingers.

''If I may, could I possibly take on this mission alone?'' Neji asked, his lavender colored eyes staring intently at wall just behind the sannin's head.

''Why?'' Tsunade asked, eyes narrowing.

''You said before that I haven't the proper experience to become a member of the ANBU black-ops.'' the jounin explained ''I have only been on a handful of solo missions and you said yourself that I could most likely accomplish this mission alone.''

''Hm...So I did..'' the fifth hokage mused as she bit at the fingernail of her thumb. She looked him over ''This won't be easy.''

''Most missions are not, My Lady..'' Neji replied simply.

''Hmph.'' Tsunade said, sitting back in her chair. This Hyuuga always surprised her with how much guts he had. ''You're as confident as ever, Neji.'' she said, smirking at him. ''Fine. Just don't die.''

''Yes, Hokage-sama'' Neji responded, nodding before bowing and taking his leave to go get everything ready for tomorrow morning and also to tell Shikamaru that he wouldn't be able to come over tomorrow afternoon.

Tsunade sighed as soon as he shut the door. She knew that Neji could do this no problem. She just didn't know whether he would get injured in the process or not. Orochimaru's henchman were no pushovers. '_But he did defeat one of them when he was just thirteen_...' she thought, swiveling her chair around and biting at her thumb again as she looked out at the village. ''I must be thinking too much...'' she said to herself, frowning.

* * *

**Yep, this is it. Sorry people who wanted some ShikaNeji lovins but that wont be happening for a while. :[ I know, I'm sad too. I blame the plotbunny -.-**

**Anyway...OMFrippenG u guys -.- school started on monday and I'm soooo frippen tired so please excuse any mistakes. Buuuut! I still managed to get this chap up and goin. Be grateful. I'm ****only surviving on koolaid right now .**

**Lol, jk. As always, thanks for the support and please leave me some reviews. Good, bad, medium rare, I don't mind. I just want to hear your thoughts :3**


	9. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer**: Do you really think I would be writing stories about these characters if I already owned them? -.-

The anime/manga series 'Naruto' along with all of its characters belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing.

**Song I listened to whilst making this:(and these are more for me to remember which songs go with what kind of things im writing more than for you guys. But they are good so I suggest checkin em out XP)**

**Shattered by Trading Yesterday(MTT version)**

**Pursuit Cornered from Pheonix Wright **

**Stampede from The Lion King**

**Sanctuary from The Hunchback Of Notre Dame**

**A Gorey Demise by Creature Feature**

* * *

Black colored eyes stared up at the expanse of clouds above as their owner lifted his arms up tiredly in a weak attempt at getting up. '_So...hungry.._' he thought to himself as he once again tried to get up, only to fall flat against the cool earth below him. Chouji frowned as he heard his stomach growling, signaling that he was hungry.

The Akimichi swept his eyes around the circular hole he had just created. If he wasn't so hungry, he would have mentally praised himself. This was the biggest one yet out of all the holes that littered the mountain behind his house.

''Hey! Chouji!'' The addressed looked up when he heard a familiar voice.

''Shikamaru!'' The Akimichi exclaimed, happy to see his best friend after so long. He tried to get up but only ended up falling back down once again.

Shikamaru chuckled as he saw this, shaking his head at his friend. ''I got somethin for ya.'' he said, producing a bento box that seemingly came from nowhere. He dangled it over the side of the hole so Chouji could see it before he let it slip through his fingers.

Chouji caught the bento box and sat up, grinning at the Nara in thanks before opening the clothed box and taking a bite of the sweet rice balls that were inside. Shikamaru sat down on the edge of the hole and let his feet hang down as he watched his best friend eat.

''So how was the mission? I heard it wasn't that hard.'' Shikamaru asked, voice a little louder than usual as he leaned forward to rest his forearms on his thighs. He stared down at Chouji, waiting patiently for an answer.

He didn't have to wait long though. Chouji quickly finished eating and proceeded to jump from one side of the hole to the other until he made it all the way up to the top. The Akimichi let himself fall down next to his best friend. ''I'm guessing Ino told you?'' he asked as sat down next to the Nara.

''Yea. She did'' Shikamaru responded, letting his back fall onto the hard ground behind him. He folded his arms behind his head as he stared up at the clouds, his mind pondering about the conversation he had with the blonde haired woman yesterday.

Chouji watched him for a moment before turning his attention to the sky as well, noting that there was a good amount of clouds moving lazily about the sky. The Akimichi bit the inside of his lip as he once again moved his eyes to his best friend. ''You seem tense.'' he said, noticing how Shikamaru was gripping his arms with his hands. ''What's up?''

Shikamaru sighed as he continued to look at the clouds. ''A lot of things..''

''Well then.. If that's the case.'' Chouji said, lying down next to his best friend on the ground. ''Why don't you start from the beginning?''

* * *

''Hmmm...'' Chouji hummed as Shikamaru finally finished his tale. The Nara had first explained how Neji had sat in the back of his class, then how he suddenly started to have feelings for the Hyuuga. He also explained the dinner and the last thing was the part that happened with Ino yesterday.

''Hm...You never told me you were gay..'' Chouji said, stroking his chin with his fingers as he examined the sky, not at all fazed by the lazy glare that was thrown his way.

''That's not the point.'' Shikamaru said in his usual tone. ''Anyway, so what do ya think Chouji?'' he asked, turning over to lay on his side so that he was facing the Akimichi.

''I think you should just tell her.'' Chouji said, shrugging. ''You know how Ino gets when she wants to know something. Remember when she wanted to know what your middle name was?''

''Ugh. I know.'' Shikamaru said, laying on his back again as he moved his arm so that it was covering his eyes. ''She wouldn't leave me alone for three weeks.''

''All the more reason to tell her.''

''Chouji..'' Shikamaru said, sighing as he removed his arm from his eyes. ''You're missing the big picture here. Neji already told me that he doesn't want anyone to know about us yet.''

''Then why don't you just ask Neji about it then?'' Chouji asked, reaching into his pocket when he finally remembered that he had put chips in there for later.

''What do you mean?'' Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow when Chouji sat up and opened his bag of potato chips.

''Just ask him if it would be okay to tell a few people. Like Asuma or Neji's team.'' Chouji said, grinning as he picked a chip from his bag and ate it. ''And you can even tell Ino. She's not gonna tell anyone.'' he said between bites.

''Oh yea? And how can you be so sure?'' Shikamaru asked, remembering quite a handful of times when he had trusted Ino with something to only have it thrown back in his face when she publicly announced it to the world.

''Cuz this is different.'' Chouji said simply ''This will be the first relationship that you tell her about.''

''That's true.'' Shikamaru agreed, receiving a nod from his best friend.

''Why do you care so much anyway?''Chouji asked seemingly from out of the blue ''You've never cared what anyone else thinks before.''

''I don't.'' The Nara replied, shrugging. ''Neji does.''

''You guys would have been found out eventually'' Chouji said. He blew air into his chip bag and popped it with his hand.

''Hm. I guess..'' Shikamaru said as he returned his attention back to the clouds.

* * *

The next morning, Shikamaru's apartment was very quiet. Usually on the week days, the shadow-nin would get up at an ungodly hour and go to the Academy to prepare for his class, but that wasn't the case today. The Academy was closed to prepare for the incoming students and all the teachers, Shikamaru included, had about two weeks off while they waited for the new recruits.

This was one of the few reasons why Shikamaru liked his job and these next two weeks would have been complete heaven if it wasn't for the fact that Tsunade had decided to give him as much paperwork as he could handle... Well, at least he could sleep in as long as he wanted...as long as no one disturbed him..

Shikamaru groaned when he heard a knock at his door. He let his eyelids flutter open and passed a glance over to his clock on the wall of his bedroom. 5:00 Am. '_No_.' the Nara thought to himself, pulling his large, white pillow over his head. '_I refuse_.' The shadow-nin thought as he continued to ignore his guest, thinking that it was either Ino, Asuma, or someone else he really didn't want to talk to right now.

''Shikamaru! I know you're there.'' This however, caught the attention of his half asleep mind.

Neji sighed and stopped his pounding on the chuunin's door. He hadn't been able to see the Nara yesterday after his meeting with the hokage. He wanted to explain that he had a mission and wouldn't be able to make it to their 'date' later on in the day. The Hyuuga would have asked someone to tell the shadow-nin for him, but he wanted to tell him in person. He didn't know if it was because he wanted to see Shikamaru one last time before he left or if it was something else, but he just had this feeling that if he didn't see the shadow-nin now, he wasn't going to be seeing Shikamaru again for quite a while. The feeling was strong and it came from somewhere in his gut. Neji had had these feelings before and even though he didn't act upon them sometimes, he still held his utmost trust in them.

'_Guess I'm going to have to ask Hinata to tell him after all_..'' he thought, frowning as he went to turn away to leave. The Hyuuga stopped, however, when he heard footsteps coming from inside the apartment. The footsteps were loud and there was a medium-lengthed pause in between each footstep, as if someone was literally forcing themselves to move their legs.

Shikamaru gripped his door handle hard and twisted the piece of metal roughly, swinging the door open. He stared at his guest with the same evil eyes he had given Youji when the young Inuzuka had thrown a kunai at his chalkboard. The only difference between the two facial expressions being the small bags under the Nara's eyes from loss of sleep. He had been up til two in the morning on this particular night, working on the plans for the upcoming Chuunin exams.

Neji hesitated at this look. He had expected the Nara to be angry, sure, but not _this_ angry. If looks could kill...

''Shikamaru.'' The Hyuuga said in a professional tone, shaking off the glare. ''I have come here to tell you something.'' he said, placing one of his hands on his waist. ''I am sorry to inform you that I will not be able to-What are you doing?'' Neji asked, cutting himself short when Shikamaru reached out and grabbed his right wrist in an iron grip. The Nara didn't offer a respond and simply went down on one knee slowly, Neji's wrist still in his grip.

The Hyuuga didn't know what to make of this and was about to tell Shikamaru to release him when the shadow-nin yanked on his wrist, catching the prodigy off guard. The Nara pulled just enough so that Neji came plummeting down towards him. The chuunin angled himself so that Neji's chest hit his shoulder and once it did, Shikamaru stood up, successfully hauling Neji up over his right shoulder.

The Hyuuga genius was momentarily stunned and confused about what had just happened, but he quickly snapped out of it when he heard Shikamaru shut the door. ''What are you doing, Shikamaru?'' Neji hissed as the Nara started carrying him in the direction of his bedroom. ''Put me down this instant!''

Once again, Shikamaru was silent as he trudged on, not at all effected when Neji hit a few of his chakra points. He only tightened his grip on the Hyuuga's waist and when he finally reached his destination, he went over to the bed and plopped Neji down onto the soft mattress haphazardly, falling down next to the Hyuuga afterwords. He let his eyes close as he snuggled his face into the pillow, one of his arms draped over Neji's form.

The long haired shinobi glared at the Nara, not at all appreciating what had just happened. ''Shikama-'' he started, only to have said boy slap his hand over his mouth, silencing the him.

''It's early.'' Shikamaru said, as if he was talking to a small child. ''Just shut up and go to sleep.'' he groaned.

Neji frowned and removed the hand from over his mouth. ''No.'' he said sternly. ''I came here to tell you something important and then I have to leave.''

''Where?'' Shikamaru asked, yawning as he thrust his arm underneath his pillow, not really wanting to have to force himself to wake up. All he wanted to do was sleep.

''I have a mission and I'm afraid I won't be able to make it to our arrangement this afternoon.'' Neji answered, getting up off the bed.

''When will you be back?'' Shikamaru asked as he sat up, blinking as he unwillingly tried to force himself to become more awake so he could hear more details.

''There was no given time estimation for this particular mission, but I am sure that I could have it complete within only a few days.'' Neji responded, crossing his arms.

The Nara sighed as he got off the bed, watching as the prodigy walked around the piece of furniture so that they were on the same side. '_I guess I'm just going to have to ask him about telling everyone when he gets back then. Oh well, nuthing I can do about it now_..'

''I apologize for coming so early. I want to get an early start on this mission so..''

''Don't mention it.'' Shikamaru said, shrugging. ''I'm actually glad you did, believe it or not...'' he said, hanging his head and scratching the back of his neck.

''Well. I would have discussed this with you yesterday but you were not here when I came around.'' Neji said, staring at Shikamaru for a moment before leaving the room and heading into the living room.

''Yea. I had something to do..'' The Nara said as he followed him down the hallway. The genius sighed when Neji stopped in the middle of the room. ''So. I guess I'll see you later then..'' he said softly, scratching the back of his neck, frowning.

''Yes.'' Neji said, nodding. There was short silence between the two until the Hyuuga broke it, ''I suppose I better get going then. I'll see you.'' he said, turning around and moving towards the door.

''Neji..wait.'' Shikamaru said, gripping the boy's shoulder before he could get too far. He turned the Hyuuga back around to face him. He gripped the jounin's chin with his fingers and tilted his head upwards, stealing a chaste kiss from Neji's lips.

Neji let his eyes slip close as he felt the contact of the Nara's lips against his. He kissed the other nin back and not wanting to go just yet. He found himself desiring to stay here with Shikamaru, but that wish could not be granted and the moment was soon over when the two parted for air.

Brown colored orbs met lavender and Shikamaru's eyes softened.. ''Be safe, alright?'' he asked, giving the Hyuuga a soft smile.

''I will.'' Neji responded, smirking. He stole another small kiss from the Nara's lips before moving away from the other boy and going over to the door. ''Goodbye.'' he said.

''Yea. See ya.'' Shikamaru said, giving a small wave with his right hand as Neji left, the Nara going over to the door and locking it once the he was gone. He yawned and made his way back to his bedroom. Another six more hours of sleep couldn't hurt.

* * *

''I did WHAT?''

TonTon oinked and shivered in Shizune's arms as the brunette looked at her boss with a nervous expression upon her face. ''Lady Tsunade. You sent Neji out on a solo mission this morning to investigate one of Orochimaru's hideouts.''

''I don't remember that...'' Tsunade growled, angrily sitting down in her chair as she cupped her head. She bit the inside of her lip as her headache started to act up again.

''But..You filled out the form and everything..'' Shizune said, frowning as she held TonTon in one arm while she looked at the form in her other hand.

''I'm telling you I don't remember.'' Tsunade hissed, groaning when her head started to hurt again. ''All I remember was a very awkward horse ride.. I was trying to get away from some ninja cloaked in black, but they kept pulling on my hair.''

''Was this horse by any chance, white?'' Shizune asked, irritated.

''Yes as a matter of fact, it was.'' the fifth hokage answered her assistant.

''Then the enemy ninja was me, Lady Tsunade and that wasn't a horse you were riding. You were throwing up in the bathroom.'' the brunette said, shaking her head with a frown on her face.

''Huh...'' Tsunade said, sitting back in her chair. ''No wonder I heard a flush whenever I pulled on the reins..''

''Lady Tsunade..'' Shizune said seriously, trying to get her boss to focus ''What about Hyuga Neji?''

''When did he leave?'' the blonde asked, removing her hand from her head.

''Around five thirty a.m this morning..'' Shizune said, looking at her watch.

''What time is it now?''

''One thirty seven p.m, My Lady.'' the hokage's assistant replied. ''You were intoxicated for most of the morning..''

''Why didn't you make me come to my senses faster?'' Tsunade roared at Shizune, standing up and slamming her hands on her desk. When the brunette didn't offer a reply, the fifth sighed and sat down again. ''This isn't good. Orochimaru's henchmen are most likely crawling around that hideout and if that snakes gets his hands on him...'' she said as she bit the nail on her thumb, not daring to finish that sentence. ''Shizune!''

''Yes my lady?'' Shizune asked, straightening up.

''Send out Anbu squad number 3 to deal with this. I want that Hyuuga back here by tomorrow morning!'' the blonde said, placing her hands back on her desk.

''Yes Lady Tsunade!'' her asssistant said, putting TonTon down and swiftly leaving the room.

'_Gods_...' Tsunade thought to herself as she fell back in her chair, a hard look on her face as she glared down at her desk. '_What was I thinking?_'

* * *

'_Three guards_..' Neji thought to himself as he scanned the cleverly hidden hideout with his byakugan, the darkness of the night and the natural cover of the leaves on the tree he was in shielding him from enemy eyes. He had arrived in the Land of Tea a while ago and had just found the hideout. '_Heh..That's disappointing_.'' he thought smugly. The Hyuuga had spent some time scanning the area and marking it on his map. He had also taken time to try and determine what was going on inside the hideout but much to his dismay, there was a barrier around the hideout that made it difficult to see too much of anything.

He was about ready to start heading back to the village though so it didn't matter. He had successfully completed this task. The Hyuuga turned around and jumped from tree branch to tree branch, making his way back from whence he came. He kept his byakugan activated just to be on the safe side as he jumped.

All was quiet for a while until Neji quickly stopped on a nearby tree when a kunai suddenly came hurling towards him. He frowned and ducked, avoiding the projectile easily. '_So they're not so stupid after all_..' he thought. '_They kept more guards stationed around the outside of the hideout a ways away to ambush anyone who figured out their location. Clever._' he thought as he took three quick glances in opposite directions, finding himself surrounded by four enemy ninja.

'_But not clever enough._' he thought as he preformed Eight Trigrams: Air Palm when one of the enemies charged at him, sending the masked man flying in the opposite direction into a tree. Neji smirked and tossed his head to the left, avoiding a punch that was aimed for his head. He quickly turned his body around and hit him hard with his gentle fist, causing the shinobi to hit a tree branch behind him and plummet to the ground.

Neji scanned the last three with his dojutsu, not bothering to focus on the other two. They wouldn't be able to get up anymore. He deduced that one of them was jounin level and the other was only chuunin level by how strong their chakra appeared. ''So this is all Orochimaru has to offer for guards?'' he said, disappointed ''How pitiful.''

''Oh yea! Well try this on for size!'' one of the them yelled and charged at him, a kunai in his hand as he used his other hand to start making hand signs. Neji didn't allow him to finish his jutsu and quickly ran towards him, catching the ninja off guard. He hit two of the man's chakra points and used Jyuuken on his heart.

''Tch..'' The ninja said, slashing Neji's cheek with it before he fell out of the trees, just like the other two.

Neji frowned at this and wiped the blood off with the back of his hand. He would take care of the cut later on. The last ninja glared at him and charged as well. '_Just how foolish are these ninja?_' he thought, almost shocked. There must have been something seriously wrong with this ninja if he thought that a frontal attack would work after the other three had been defeated so easily. The Hyuuga ducked under two kicks and jumped up, delivering his own kick to the man's head.

''Nng!'' The man hissed, frustrated.

''Just give up. You have no chance of beating me.'' Neji said, smirking.

''We'll see about that.'' the enemy said, charging at Neji once more.

'_Tch. When will he learn?_' the Hyuuga thought, dodging another attack. He was about to use jyuuken again to end this when he found his body not responding to him quick enough and the other ninja quickly saw his opening to punch Neji hard, causing the genius to fly back into a tree, leaving a gaping hole in the wood.

''But..how?'' Neji thought out loud, grimacing when he struggled to get up. '_What is going on?_' he thought, his body not listening to him. '_This has to be some genjutsu or..wait!_' he then remembered the cut on his cheek. ''Damnit.'' he cursed when his vision started to blur and the last thing he saw before he blacked out was the sound-nin coming ever closer to him, a victorious smirk on his face.

* * *

Neji groaned as he finally started to regain consciousness. '_What?_' he thought to himself as he opened his eyes, finding that he could not see anything. The Hyuuga prodigy frowned and went to make sure that he had a blindfold on or something when he noticed that he couldn't move his arms. They were tied behind his back.

Neji frowned and closed his eyes, willing himself to calm down as he remembered what happened. Panicking at a time like this would get him nowhere. He focused what was left of his chakra to his eyes and opened them swiftly, whispering the name of his dojutsu. He hadn't expected to have any chakra left in his body, since most captors tend to drain their victims so that they wouldn't be that much of a threat but, much to Neji's surprise, he found he still had a bit left in him.

'_What...what is going on?_' he thought to himself in shock when nothing changed. He still couldn't see. '_This must be some kind of seal_..' Neji thought as he could feel the area around his eyes start to become itchy, indicating that something that was infused with chakra was covering that particular part of his body.

If Neji was actually able to see, he would have found that he was in a dark, old prison cell. The bars of the cell were grey and there was no floor, just dirt. In the small room, there was only a sink and a toilet, nothing else. There wasn't even a window or anything. The walls were also made of dirt, showing that the Hyuuga was underground. The little room was completely cut off from the outside world and there wasn't a single soul to be found. Not even other prisoners. The Hyuuga himself had a chakra tag over his eyes, his arms and legs were tied with handcuffs and his right foot was chained to one of the walls of the cell.

The jounin deactivated his dojutsu when he heard a door opening. He listened in on his captor's conversation, all the while keeping still and regulating his breathing to appear as though he were still unconscious.

''Shiki, you're a doctor for goodness sake.'' A female voice said.

''You know what? Shut up Miura! I haven't been one for that long so_ excuse_ me for making a mistake once and a while.'' A male voice responded angrily.

''Only an idiot would have made that kind of mistake...'' The woman, Miura, responded, not at all effected by the loud growl she received in response.

Neji frowned when he heard the footsteps approach him, stopping only a few feet in front of him.

''Hm...and who's this again?''

''A Hyuuga apparently. Kiyowara was pretty proud of himself when he brought him here. Lord Orochimaru has never had the pleasure of having the byakugan before so he was overjoyed to bring such a specimen in for him..''

''Stats?''

''Male. Age, 17. Height, 172.1 centimeters. Weight, 54.2 kilograms. Blood type, O.''

''Hm. Alright. What are you planning to inject him with?''

''Adrenaline. Remember when we had that ninja from Suna? This should work just the same.''

''Yes. She was the one that Sachi murdered when we found out her eyes were useless..''

''Yea. That was fun to watch'' Laughter could be heard after this statement.

''Anyway.. You drug him and bring him to the room. I'm going to go get everything ready for him.''

''Geez, you're such a slave driver.''

Neji remained silent when he heard footsteps leaving and then a door shutting. After that, it was so quiet that the Hyuuga would have thought he was all alone if it wasn't for the fact that he could hear breathing from outside of his cell.

''You got some nerve, kid. Pretendin' to be asleep. We're not dumb, you know?'' Said the male from earlier. His voice was low and it sounded as though he was completely irritated by Neji's behavior.

The Hyuuga smirked at this ''Heh..you certainly had me fooled.''

''You little brat.'' The voice hissed and Neji could hear the sound of his cell door being opened. He waited until the footsteps came closer to him and once they did, the Hyuuga sprung up and launched a kick at his captor, the strike infused with some of his chakra.

The doctor clearly had been expecting something like this and he narrowly dodged the strike. If Neji had been able to see, he could easily have taken down this man who had no ninja skills at all. But luck was not on the Hyuuga's side. He couldn't see anything and his movements were significantly slower due to his recent intoxication.

When Neji made to swing his leg back at the man again, he quickly stabbed the Hyuuga with a syringe, causing Neji's world to go back in a matter of seconds.

* * *

When the Hyuuga came to, he found himself tied to a chair by chakra infested chains in the middle of a room. He could still feel chakra inside of him, but not enough to preform an escape justsu or to use gentle fist to break the chains. There was a bright light over his head that only illuminated the area around him. Other than the area that was lit up by the light bulb, he couldn't see anything else in the room. Everything was black. Well.. at least there wasn't a chakra tag over his eyes..

''Ah. You're awake.'' A voice to his left said. A moment later, a large man stepped into the light. He had spikey, dark red hair and yellow eyes. He looked to be about 27 years of age and he had a pair of glasses on. He also wore a white doctor's coat on and black pants. He didn't look the Hyuuga in the eye as he jotted a few things down on his clipboard.

''What do you want with me?'' Neji hissed, glaring at the doctor.

The doctor stopped writing and looked at the Jounin. He blinked and said in a monotone voice ''You don't wanna know..''

''What?'' Neji asked, eyes narrowing as he recognized the voice from earlier. His name was Shiki or something like that. The leaf ninja didn't bother to think that much about it right now though, he had other things to worry about.

The doctor only laughed at this, not offering a reply, which irritated Neji. The older male walked back out of the Hyuuga's line of sight without a word and Neji could have used the byakugan to see where he was, but he didn't see the need. It would most likely give them what they wanted. He had guessed that the byakugan was the purpose of this whole charade from the conversation he had listened in on earlier and he most certainly wasn't about to give up his eyes to Orochimaru. Not now, not ever.

Moments later, a different doctor walked into the light. This one was female and appeared to be in her mid-30s. Her hair was dirty blonde and it was tied up at the very top of her head, two pieces of hair framing her face on either side. Her expression was serious, her green eyes focused on the syringe in her hand as she filled it with a colorless liquid, flicking the needle every so often. She was wearing a red tank top that barely covered her cleavage, a black skirt and shoes that were similar to Tsunade's. She was wearing a doctor's coat just like the other one from before. Neji could only guess that this one was the woman from earlier.

She didn't bother to talk to him as she finished her task. Once the needle was free of air bubbles, she proceeded to walk towards him, her heels thudding against the floor as she walked. She went behind the Hyuuga and pulled up his shirt sleeve.

Neji chose to remain still throughout this ordeal. If he were to squirm now, he would only make himself tired and possibly cause this woman to injure him with the syringe accidentally. He would have to wait until later for the right moment to strike.

He grimaced when he felt a prick in the antecubital region of his arm. The doctor pushed the fluid into his system and pulled the needle out once all of it was inside of his body.

''So...is it working?'' The other doctor asked, frowning as he stepped into the light. Neji regarded him with a glare and remained silent.

''Could be..We'll just have to wait and see.'' The female doctor responded impassively, taking out a rag form inside her coat pocket and wiping down the syringe with it as she walked back into the darkness.

''Awe! I hate waiting..'' the male doctor complained and went back into the darkness as well, leaving Neji all alone in the light.

'_What is this feeling?_' he thought to himself when his arm started to tingle. The feeling slowly progressed from his arm to his shoulder in a matter of minutes, and after fifteen minutes passed, something happened that completely surprised the Hyuga.

His byakugan activated. All on its own. '_What the...?_' he thought, eyes widening as realized that he could see the entire room now. The room was rather large and there were various computers, examination tables, surgical tools and other things in the room. He could see the two doctors watching him.

''I told you that adrenaline would work, Miura.'' Shiki said, grinning.

''Alright fine. You were right one time. What do you want me to do? Bow down to your greatness?'' Miura asked, frowning.

''That would actually be nice..'' Shiki trailed off, picking up a clipboard that was on a table behind him.

''Tch..''

''So anyways..what happens now?'' the red head asked, looking at his superior.

''Now..'' the dirty blonde said, a sinister look on her face as she approached the leaf jounin. ''The fun part begins.''

* * *

Neji panted as he narrowly dodged a kunai, biting his lip as he forced his limbs to move away from the deadly projectiles. The Hyuuga was beaten, bruised and his eyes hurt like hell. He had been in this place for eleven days now, he was guessing. He wasn't able to know for sure because there was no sunlight or moonlight that came down into the hideout.

During this time, the two minions of Orochimaru, Shiki and Miura, had made sure to leave Neji no chance to escape from them at all. They had obviously been doing this sort of thing for years and they seemed to have had the experience to be able to even keep a hokage in here if they wished.

Every day, they would inject Neji with some drug, to keep him from being able to fight properly and adrenaline so that his byakugan would activate. Once it did, they would preform different experiments on him to learn more about the dojutsu. Over the first two days, they had just spent the time examining his eyes when the byakugan wasn't activated, and when it was. During the next three days, they had used a tonometer to measure the amount of pressure his corneas could take when his kekei genkai wasn't activated and when it was.

After that, they had used an ophthalmoscope in order to look into his eyes and again, they had done this when his justu was on and when it was off. They had done that for about four days and now, they were testing his reflexes.

Neji was currently in a closed off room that had glass walls. The floor was made of white tile and it had holes all around the top of the ceiling. They were used for releasing gas into the room, as Neji had found out when they had decided to have him use the byakugan. There were also more holes around the room that spouted kunai at random, forcing him to dodge.

The Hyuuga panted as he dodged. He was slowly going insane from all of this. He didn't know where he was, if anyone was going to come get him and he felt completely angry with himself for not being able to find a way to escape yet. But he wasn't about to give up. If Neji was anything, he was stubborn. And he was confident that he would come up with a way out of this. But even though he told himself that, some part of him told him that he was doomed. This was Orochimaru's henchman after all and if he didn't get out soon, at this rate..

* * *

''Look at him go!'' Shiki said, laughing as he pushed random buttons on the control panel, causing random kunai to the fly at Neji.

''Don't get too happy.'' Miura said, smirking as she watched the Hyuuga through the one way mirror in the control room as she sat atop one a table next to all the controls, Shiki sitting in a chair to her right. ''All this will stop tomorrow.''

''I wanna do it.'' Shiki said, pushing three buttons at once. He looked over at the elder woman, a pleading look in his eyes.

''No. The last time I let you do something like that, you dropped them on the floor and they were useless!'' Miura said angrily, glaring at the other doctor out of the corner of her eye.

''Awe! Come on!'' Shiki said, continuing to push buttons.

''No. You had your chance and you blew it. Now you must suffer the consequences.'' Miura said, voice monotone.

''Damn..''

* * *

The next day, Neji was planning on having to do the same thing as before, but to his surprise, he woke up in a room that was completely white. He was tied to an operating table and a bright light was shining in his face.

''You're awake.'' Miura stated as she looked over her shoulder at him. She was currently washing her hands in a sink and she had a surgical mask on over her nose and mouth. Once she was done washing her hands, Shiki put rubber gloves on her hands for her with his already gloved hands.

Neji only glared at them both, like he usually did.

Miura, who was expecting this, smirked under her mask at him as Shiki went rummaging for something in one of the drawers under the sink. ''Alright.'' she said as Shiki handed her a pair of surgical scissors.

''Hmm...anesthesia or no?'' Shiki asked, frowning as he too put on a surgical mask.

''It'll be faster without it...''

''Then let's not.'' Shiki said, grinning as he made his way over to the Hyuuga, who was mentally panicing as the doctor pulled apart the his eyelids with a pair of tongs, opening up his eye wide.

''Let's get started then.'' Miura said, walking over to the jounin slowly, a pair of surgical scissors in her hands and a smirk on her face.

* * *

''Well..that was easy.'' Miura sighed out as she took off her mask. Both she and Shiki had finally finished with the 'surgery' and were currently walking back to their office.

''Yea. Except I could have done without his screaming though. It was annoying.'' the red head responded, taking off his mask as well.

Miura shrugged in response as she examined the two eyeballs in the jar that they had put them in. She swirled them around gently in the water that was slowly turning red from all of the blood.

''W-what?'' she asked, walking faster until she entered her office. She switched on the light that was on her desk and held the jar next to it. ''It can't be! What the..''

''What? What's the matter?'' Shiki asked as she came to stand next to the female doctor.

''Everything's white! There's no iris, cornea, nothing!'' Miura said, swirling the small circles of flesh around in the water.

''What? Why?'' Shiki exclaimed, confused.

''I don't know.. I did everything perfectly.'' Miura said, frowning as she opened the jar and took one of the eyes out. What she didn't know though was that since Neji was from the branch family of the Hyuuga Clan, his eyes would become completely useless if they were either taken from him or if he died.

''Hm...Looks like _someone_ around here isn't such a great doctor after all.'' Shiki said teasingly, grinning mischievously at her.

''That's not funny. Lord Orochimaru isn't going to be happy...'' Miura said angrily.

''He doesn't have to know. Nobody told him anyways remember? It was supposed to be a surprise.'' Shiki said, taking the eye from her.

''That doesn't make me feel any better...''

''Well. Does this?'' Shiki asked, causing Miura to look at him. He poked her arm with the eyeball and grinned. ''Hey Miura. I got my EYE on you!'' he said, laughing as he continued to poke her.

''Shiki! That wasn't funny when you did it last time and it certainly isn't funny now!'' Miura responded, glaring at him.

''Awe, come on! Quit bein such a sour patch kid.'' Shiki said, grinning as he continued to laugh.

''Ugh. What did I do wrong to get cursed with such a stupid partner?'' Miura asked, smacking her hand to her forehead.

* * *

**Wow...I lied to you guys bout there being no ShikaNeji for a while. Yea..i forgot bout that scene before neji leaves *sheepish grin* whoops. I don't know if there will some action between these two yet. As you guys can see, Neji's not in the best of health right now :[**

**Don't shoot me D= I'm sorry loyal readers :[ I was late. I was planning on putting this up every week, but I lost trak o' time -.- This is the biggest chap yet so I hope it makes up for my lateness. :] I feel sorry for my koolaid box though. Tis empty XD**

**Anyways, please review and let me know what you thought kkz? :D And thanks for the reviews so far. You guys make my day. X3 I love you all :3 Now don't take that too personally tho -.-**

**Lol! XD**


	10. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer**: Do you really think I would be writing stories about these characters if I already owned them? -.-

The anime/manga series 'Naruto' along with all of its characters belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing.

**Songs: **

**Gulgur Volcano from Final Fantasy 9**

**Ambush Attack from Final Fantasy 9**

**Castle Center from Castlevania 64**

**Like a Surgeon by Weird Al Yankovich**

**Uninstall(piano version) from Bokurano**

* * *

The sound of heels hitting the floor were becoming quite annoying in the small room as Shizune watched her boss pace back in forth in her office. The brunette sighed as she held TonTon to her chest securely. It had been two weeks since Neji had gone on his mission and Tsunade was getting irritated. The Hyuuga Clan had figured out that she had made such a bold decision by letting Neji go solo on this mission and they most certainly were not happy about it. Lord Hiashi had even got into a heated argument with the blonde woman for being so reckless as to let his nephew go alone.

''Damnit!'' Tsunade cursed, banging her fist on her window sill.

Shizune watched her bite her lip silently as she gazed out at the village that was slowly being engulfed in the setting sun's rays. '_I guess...All we can do is wait..._' she thought, frowning worriedly.

* * *

''Aaggggghhh!'' A sound ninja cried before falling down to the earth, dead.

Silently, an anbu member dropped down beside the corpse. The elite picked through the dead body's clothes, trying to find something, anything that would give the team of ninja a clue. When nothing was found, the ninja sighed and looked up at the other four members of his squad, shaking his head in a negative fashion.

The other ninjas didn't offer a reply before they kicked off of the branch that they were standing on, propelling themselves onward. The last Anbu member jumped backwards and landed on the same branch before jumping and following the other four.

All was silent as they pushed onward through the same forest that the Hyuuga they were looking for had last been traveling. They had been searching for days on end but were not able to find a single clue. The forest was too dense, there was too much ground to cover, whenever an enemy ninja was found, they would kill themselves before the anbu had a chance to interrogate them and to make matters worse, there had been a storm the day the Hyuuga went missing, so his scent couldn't be found anywhere. At this rate, it was going to take a miracle to find Neji.

Just then, the ninja hound that was traveling with them came to a sudden stop. ''What is it girl?'' the owner of the dog asked as she jumped back to stand next to her canine companion. The dog sniffed the air a few times before letting out a sharp bark. The dog then proceeded to jump down to the ground below and ran at full speed in a westernly direction. A quick look passed between the four anbu members before they followed the dog.

The canine continued to run for about seven and a half minutes before it came to a halt in front of a patch of dirt. The dog dug her claws into the earth and started to dig, flinging bits of cooled soil behind her. The anbu members dropped down beside the dog and waited for her to find what she was looking for.

They had to wait a total of three minutes before the ninja hound backed up from the hole she had dug and went back over to her master. ''A door?'' one of the ninja asked, tilting his head to the side as he mentally thanked the canine on his team. They probably would not have found this if it weren't for Kana's keen sense of smell.

All four ninja proceeded to dig out around the door until they were finally able to pull it open. As soon as the heavy piece of wood was lifted, an overpowering smell of blood and death came out from down the large, circular cavern. If the anbu were disgusted, they didn't show it as they dropped down the hole to the room below.

There were candles slowly burning all along the walls of the hallway. The walls were dark and covered with rust and mold and there were prison cells on either side of the hallway. The anbu members noticed that inside the cells were not living prisoners, but dozens of dead and rotting corpses. All four were quiet and wary as they made sure the area was secure.

''Disgusting..'' one of them commented dryly as they scattered and searched the masses of rotting flesh for Neji, having found no enemies nearby. The ninja hound, Kana, wagged her tail and moved further down the long hallway, sniffing the ground as her master followed behind her.

The woman was silent as she followed her dog down the long dark path. She passed a look from behind her mask into the cells. '_This must be where they store the dead bodies before disposing of them_...' she thought, unaffected by the overwhelming scent of death wafting in the air around her. Most people in the cells were dead but she could make out signs of the living as well from inside some of them. They were not her problem though. She would report this, of course, but right now the Hyuuga was the only one she cared about.

She looked down when she felt a sudden pain on her left hand. She immediately drew a kunai and was ready to attack but quickly lowered it when she saw her dog biting her. ''You find him?'' she whispered, still grasping firmly onto it. The dog didn't offer a reply and turned around. She walked over to the next cell on their left side and nuzzled the cell door. She whined softly and clawed at the bars of the cell with her paw.

The Anbu moved in front of the lock and used her kunai to pick at the rusted tumblers inside. She pulled the door back silently and let her ninja hound in first. She followed the white and brown dog through the masses of dead bodies littering the floor.

The woman did her best to step onto the ground instead of on the dead but it proved too hard for her. There was just too many corpses. Kana whined softly when she made it to the other side of the room. ''Hm?'' her master asked quietly when she made it over to the dog, who was sitting in front of a body on the floor. The anbu looked at the person before her. She placed a hand on it's neck and deduced that it was still alive. She knelt down beside the person and their long hair away from their face.

The woman frowned behind her mask as black, hollow eye sockets stared back at her. She didn't even flinch at this as she passed a look down the body, concluding that he was male. Kana licked at the man's forehead softly as her master reached into her back pocket, producing a picture of the man that they were looking for. She narrowed her eyes as she focused on Neji's features before looking back at the person before her.

'_There's no mistaking it_..' she thought as she examined the obviously unconscious young man. '_This is him_.' All over Neji's body were bruises and now infected cuts. He looked as if he hadn't been out in the sun for months and his eye sockets were bleeding profusely. '_He hasn't got much time left_.' she thought, looking at her ninja hound, who was watching her quietly. The anbu tossed her head back swiftly, causing the dog to bolt out of the cell and down the hallway to the rest of the team.

The woman quickly placed her hands on the boy's eyes, preforming basic medical ninjutsu to slow down the bleeding and temporarily stop it. She grabbed onto the teenager's arm and yanked him up. She placed his arm's around her neck and grabbed onto his thighs, lifting him up onto her back. She moved swiftly of the cell to her awaiting team mates once she was ready.

''Let's move!'' The team leader said once she reached them, jumping up and out of the entrance that they came in from. The others followed him and all five swiftly made their way back to Konoha, hoping that they weren't too late.

* * *

''Tsunade-sama!'' Shizune yelled as she burst through the door to the hokage's office in a rush.

''What is it?'' Tsunade snarled back at the brunette, not in a good mood. She didn't even look up at the kunoichi as she wrote down a few things on a piece of paper.

Shizune blinked and tensed at hearing the hokage's tone but quickly got over it. ''Neji's been found and he's in the hospital. We need your help.''

''What's wrong with him?'' Tsunade asked, looking up from her paper, a hard look in her eyes.

''His eyes, maim. They're gone!''

* * *

The hospital was always busy and today was no different. There were people screaming, reading, sleeping and preforming surgery all over the building, but Ino couldn't pay any attention to that now as she helped push the gurney down the white hallways.

The Yamanaka barked order after order at the other doctors helping her as they pushed onward down to the operating room. Neji was in critical condition and needed to be operating on immediately if there was any hope of saving his life, but Ino, who was put in charge of the Hyuuga, couldn't do this alone. She could handle broken bones and other wounds of that nature by herself with no problem, but the eyes were something that she had never had a chance to work with before. Usually older doctors dealt with such problems because cases like there were a rarity on the battlefield, but all of them were too busy to take on a sudden case like this.

The medical staff under her charge barely had time to put Neji down on the operating table before Tsunade slammed the doors open. Ino sighed when she saw the other blonde woman enter the room and take charge. She was slightly ticked that she had to ask for help like this, but there was nothing she could do about it. She was ignorant when it came to that particular part of the body.

''You there! Get the anesthesia before he wakes up! You! Get me an IV!'' Tsunade barked at random surgeons as she worked on preparing herself to preform surgery. ''Let's go people! I don't have all day!''

Ino quickly prepped herself to help preform surgery, following Tsunade's example. She passed a look at Neji over her shoulder, concern showing in her eyes for the young man before she returned her attention back to what she was doing. She was going to save him. She knew that she would...

* * *

Two and a half hours later, Yamanaka Ino sighed as she flopped down in her desk chair, completely exhausted. She fingered the rim of the cup in her hand lazily as she stared up at the ceiling of her office. Neji had needed to be anesthetized and since the enucleation was done by an experienced doctor, it didn't take long to finish what he or she started, which was a relief. The major problem, though, was that the the person who did this to the Hyuuga hadn't even attempted to close up the wound, but that too was fixed easily as were the infections that had formed. They also had to give Neji a blood transplant to make up for his lost blood. The jounin was going to be fine now, but there was still a problem of what going to be done about his eyes.

They could always give him new eyes, from someone who had recently died, but that wouldn't sit too well with his clan, Ino presumed. But then what is there left to do? It was sad to think about really. Jyuuken is basically all Neji has, from what she knew, and now that was gone. How was he even going to be a ninja?

Ino brought her cup up to her lips and mentally sighed as she drank her coffee. She had been working none stop for hours now, even before the Hyuuga was brought in, and she was in dire need of a break. She looked up when she heard the door to her office being opened. ''Hey.'' she greeted, smiling softly when she saw who it was.

Tsunade closed the door behind her and nodded to other blonde as she walked over to the Yamanaka's desk. She hopped up on the desk and started to sip at her own coffee. ''Ino. Thanks for your help tonight.'' the hokage said as she leaned the back of her head against the cabinet behind her.

''I should really be thanking you. I'm sorry for asking you to come out so late.'' Ino responded, running her fingers over the rim of her cup as she moved her swivel chair left and right slowly with her foot.

''Don't mention it.'' Tsunade said, waving the girl off as she downed the rest of her drink. ''I was waiting for him Neji to come back.. I just didn't expect him to come back like this..''

''Yea I know.'' Ino responded softly, frowning. ''I was completely shocked when I saw him.. Speaking of which, the anbu who brought him in said that he would speak with you tomorrow morning.''

The fifth nodded at this and sighed contently as she pulled her cup away form her lips. ''Shouldn't you be getting home? It's..two thirty.'' she said, looking over at the clock that was shaped like a pig on the Yamanaka's desk.

''But what about Neji?'' Ino responded, cocking her head slightly.

''He's stable. Don't worry about it.'' Tsunade replied, waving her hand at the girl dismissively. ''Sakura's been telling me that you've been working overtime for the past few weeks, so take tomorrow off too. I'll work with Sakura later to finish up with Neji.''

Ino laughed at this as she continued to swivel her chair around with her feet. ''Since when have you been so nice?''

''Hey. I have my moments.'' the sannin replied angrily, but her eyes showing that she wasn't mad in the slightest.

''Well thank god I was around when you finally had one.'' Ino said as she got up. She threw her now empty cup in the trashcan by her desk. ''Although I'm guessing I still have to come in the day after..''

''I may be feeling generous right now, but not_ that _generous'' Tsunade said, laughing and shaking her head at the young kunoichi.

The two exchanged good byes before the Yamanaka politely excused herself to go home and rest for the night. The fifth hokage sighed as she found herself alone in the room. She looked down at her now empty coffee cup and frowned. She would certainly have her hands full tomorrow..

* * *

''I'm so ttttiiiirrrreeeedddd..'' Ino complained the next afternoon as she banged the back of her head against the cushioned chair behind her.

Asuma chuckled at his student's behavior ''Ino. You really should learn to take smaller shifts.''

''Yea. Why put yourself through such torture? Working is enough of a drag as it is..'' Shikamaru said as he yawned in his seat next to Chouji.

Team 10 had all gone out for lunch today like they used to when they where younger. They didn't get to do this often, what with them working more frequently now, but they still tried to when they could.

The four of them were currently at the barbeque place that they always went to in their younger days. Ino was sitting next to Asuma and Chouji and Shikamaru were sitting across from them, Chouji on the inside, and Shikamaru on the outside.

''Ugh..'' was the only reply that their blonde team mate offered in response. She hadn't gotten home til around two forty five and even then it took her two hours to fall asleep.

''You should eat. Food gives you energy.'' Chouji offered as he set down a row of meat on the burner in the middle of the table.

''Oh really? I wouldn't know considering that _you _eat everything that we order every time we go out!'' Ino said, giving a playful glare to the Akimichi.

Chouji didn't offer a reply to that and smugly ate his meat, causing Ino to sigh and shake her head at him. ''You're going to get sick if you keep eating so much.''

''Ino, you tell him that every time. Do you really think he's gonna change when he hasn't after this long with you pestering him?'' Shikamaru asked, shrugging as he ninja-ed a piece of meat from Chouji.

''I'm just trying to help'' Ino huffed, crossing her arms and turning her chin away from the pair of friends who were currently fighting with their chopsticks over the stolen piece of meat.

''No! Not even you shall have the last piece!'' The Akimichi said, swatting away Shikamaru's chopsticks with his own.

''Troublesome..'' the Nara muttered under his breathe and let Chouji have it. He had his own meat anyway..

''So anyway you guys, how are things going?'' Asuma asked as he broke his chopsticks so he can eat his own food.

''Nothing really..'' Shikamaru said as he placed some meat on the burner. ''Same old same old..''

''I'm leaving on a mission tomorrow afternoon..'' Chouji said as he too placed some more meat on his side of the burner.

''With who?'' Ino piped up, looking at him curiously.

''Naruto and Kiba. We have to escort some lady..'' the Akimichi reponded as he eagerly watched his food cook.

''So there's nothing special about her? Just some girl?'' Asuma asked playfully.

''No. She's a feudal lord's daughter or something..I can't remember.'' Chouji said, shrugging.

''You should really learn to read the details of your mission, Chouji'' Asuma scolded. ''It could prove to be vital information.''

''Yea I know..'' Chouji said sourly. He was never happy to receive a lecture.

The Sarutobi looked him over for another moment before turning his attention to Ino. ''Anything new at the hospital?'' he asked, glaring at Chouji when he tried to ninja one of his pieces of meat.

''Yea actually.. You guys know Neji right?'' Ino asked as she picked up a piece of her own food with her chopsticks.

''Yea..'' Shikamaru said in his same usual tone as he was anxiously awaiting Ino's reply. He hadn't seen or heard from the Hyuuga in weeks and he had grown worried about the jounin, although he kept telling himself that Neji was a ninja and was perfectly capable of taking car of himself..

''What about him?'' Chouji asked as he started eating his own meat, watching Shikamaru discreetly out of the corner of his eye. He knew that the Nara had been distraught about the Hyuuga over the past few days.

''Well some anbu rushed him in at like two in the morning and we had to do emergency surgery on him.'' Ino said, sighing as she remembered the gruesome sight.

''What was wrong with him?'' Shikamaru asked swiftly before he could stop himself.

Asuma looked at him curiously and Ino raised an eyebrow. ''It.. was horrible..'' she said softly, looking down and unknowingly making Shikamaru that more distressed. ''The enemy took his eyes..''

Shikamaru's eyes widened at this and Chouji looked at him, surprised.

''He was also covered in bruises and cuts... but we got him stabilized for now.'' Ino said, trying to lighten up the mood.

''In what room is he in?'' Chouji asked suddenly, surprising her.

''Um...room G16. Yea, I'm pretty sure that's the one..'' Ino said thoughtfully, bringing her pointer finger up to her lips.

''I need to go..'' Shikamaru said suddenly and stood up from the table, causing his three companion's to look at him in shock.

''What? Why? We just got here!'' Ino protested, frowning.

Shikamaru sighed ''I forgot that I have to do something..'' he shrugged and left the restaurant, bolting in the direction of the hospital when he finally left the eating establishment.

''But..Shikamaru!'' Ino said, moving to get up and go after him.

''Just let him be, Ino..'' Chouji said softly, stopping her. ''The thing he has to do is actually really important..''

* * *

'_No! ..Not Neji!_' was all Shikamaru could think as he raced down the hallways of the hospital to the room where his team mate said the Hyuuga would be. When he finally reached the door, he clung onto the door-nob with his slightly sweaty hands and forcefully pulled the door open, unprepared for the scene that awaited him.

''Hey!'' was the first thing the Nara heard as he opened the door to Neji's room. The room was pitch black except for the stream of light that was coming in from the door he just opened. ''What the hell are you doing? Get out of here!''

Shikamaru barely registered the voice of the hokage yelling at him to leave as he stared at the sight before him. Neji was lying lifelessly on a hospital bed. There was blood all over the sheets and some of it was on his face. There was bandages covering specific parts of his body, probably from cuts, and he had some wires sticking into him as well. But what shocked the Nara the most was that there was nothing in the space where the Hyuuga's eyes were supposed to be. Nothing, just complete blackness..

'_Oh god...it's my fault.._' the shadow-nin couldn't help thinking as he found that he couldn't turn away from the scene. '_I should have stopped him that night.._'

Tsunade growled when Shikamaru refused to move. She stood infront of the light, shielding Neji's sensitive eye sockets from the harsh rays. ''..ine! ...ut of here!'' Shikamaru couldn't quite catch what was being said, he was too shocked.

'_How could this have happened? Neji would never let this happen to himself...__**I**__ shouldn't have let this happen_.' the shocked shinobi thought '_This is...just like that time when we went to save Sasuke.. I'm such an idiot!_'

''Shika-sensei..'' a small, soft voice broke the spell of shock that he was under instantly.

The Nara looked down before him to find one of his previous students, Namine, smiling up at him. ''If you don't mind me asking, can you please shut the door? Tsunade-sama and Aunty Sakura have to finish covering up Neji-sensei's eye sockets.'' she said sweetly, but Shikamaru could tell that she was distraught by the way she was gripping her clipboard way too tightly.

The Nara let his brown colored eyes leave her small form and looked up at the other occupants in the room. Tsunade was glaring death at him as she stood protectively over Neji and Sakura was giving him a disapproving look.

''Uh..yea..sure.'' Shikamaru said in a whisper, a completely shocked look upon his face.

''Great! I'll go out with you, okay? I'm really sorry though, no one but family can see him for at least two more days...'' Nami said cheerfully and ushered him out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

''Yea...'' Shikamaru whispered as he stole one last glance at Neji before the door shut completely.

* * *

Laughter, loud and sinister reached his ears as he stood perfectly still in the void of darkness. He couldn't see anything, couldn't feel anything and had no chance of escape. His body wouldn't listen to him.

The laughter started to get louder and he tried to force his muscles to listen to him, but it was no use. He gasped when he realized that liquid was running down from his eyes. '_Blood_..' he thought to himself.

''That's right.'' A female voice hissed from in front of him. ''I cut you up real good.'' He bit his lip when something sharp and hard came to rest against his neck. ''Now.. I'm going to do it again.'' the woman said in a seductive tone. He could feel her hands slide down the front of his chest as she slid the kunai across his neck agonizingly slow. He winced as even more blood poured down his body from both the cut on his neck and the stab wound she had just inflicted in his abdomen.

''I hope you enjoy the afterlife!'' The woman shrieked at him, impaling his neck and heart with her weapons.

Neji bolted upright in his hospital bed, breathing heavily. He reached up to his eyes and found bandages instead of his own smooth skin. '_What?_' he thought in a panic as he found that he couldn't see anything, just like the first day he was held captive. He slipped his fingers underneath the bandages, thinking that it was something that his captors placed on his while he was asleep.

He heard a gasp to his right and he felt someone put their hand over his. He growled and grabbed the person's hand in a death grip. He could feel from the way her hands were soft that she was female '_Her_...' he thought angrily, thinking it was the woman who tortured him. He gripped tigher and moved to throw a punch at her, seeing as he could sense no chakra in his body at the moment.

''Woah there tiger!'' a voice that was slightly familiar to him said as another hand was placed on top of his own hand that was about to strike. ''It's not even eleven thirty in the morning and you're this jumpy? Calm down.''

''Yamanaka?'' Neji asked, confused.

''Hey! I have a name you know? Ino?'' the blonde said and removed her hands from Neji's.

The Hyuuga didn't offer a reply and relaxed his posture some. So he was safe now? So he wasn't with his captors anymore? These questions swirled around in his panic induced mind as tried to calm himself down. ''Where am I?''

''Where do you think? The hospital! Duh!'' Ino said teasingly and pulled up a chair next to his bed, placing her clipboard on her lap.

''How did I get back? And why are bandages covering my eyes?''

''You don't remember?'' Ino asked, shocked. ''The anbu had to bring you back.. and um..'' Neji could hear the hesitation in her voice, as if she was unsure that if it was her place to her to tell him something. ''You uh..um.. Neji.'' she finally said seriously. ''You're eyes have been stolen.''

If he actually had eyes, they would have widened in shock. ''But..'' and then it hit him full force. He remembered the extreme pain and agony of the 'operation' that his captors preformed on him. The Hyuuga bit his lip as he remembered.

Then his thoughts completely turned in the opposite direction. How was he supposed to be a ninja now? His eyes were gone! Hell, how is he even going to live this way? The more Neji thought about it, the angry he became. He was angry at his captors, angry at Tsunade for giving him this mission, even though he was the one who decided to ask for it this way, but he was mostly angry at himself. '_How could I be so senseless as to let this happen?_' he thought and clenched his teeth angrily, gripping the sheets of his hospital blanket until his knuckles turned white.

Ino watched him, a sad look in her eyes as she watched him go through his inner turmoil. ''If it makes you feel any better...Tsunade has me working on trying to find you some new eyes..'' she offered softly.

''Ino..'' Neji responded stiffly, not happy that she was pitying him. ''Could you please leave me? I need to..sort out my thoughts.''

''Of course Neji. But be warned, I have to come back in an hour to replace your bandaging.'' Ino said, not at all surprised that he wanted to be alone right now. He got up and made her way over to the door.

''Very well..'' Neji said, nodding.

Ino looked back at him and gave him a small smile before exiting the room, leaving him to his own devices.

* * *

Back at his apartment, Shikamaru sighed as he angrily erased what he was writing on the piece of paper before him. He was currently sprawled out on his couch, trying to get his work done but having an extremely hard time doing so. He just couldn't stop thinking about Neji.

He had spent most of the night at the hospital with Namine, who was just as concerned as he was for the Hyuuga. Throughout the night, she would occasionally look from her clipboard to her sensei's room and then back again. She didn't speak much with the shadow-nin but it took one look for him to see how scared and concerned she felt.

They had remained together for most of the day and some of the night, until Sakura had brought the red-headed genin home. The pinkette wasn't happy with Shikamaru and told him to just go home because there was nothing more that he could do for Neji at the moment, but Shikamaru refused and only finally went home when Tsunade ordered him to.

The Chuunin sighed heavily and looked down at the floor, lacing his fingers behind his head sadly. '_Just one more day..._' he thought. '_Then I can see him..._'

* * *

Elsewhere, there was a heated argument occurring in the hokage's office...

''Don't go yelling at me Hiashi! I'm doing the best I can!''

''I have every right! It's your insolence that caused this mess in the first place!''

''I was drunk damnit!''

Shizune sighed as she watched the two of them fight. They had been at it for nearly twenty minutes now and neither side was willing to give in.

''I would think that you would have enough common sense than to give someone a mission while you are intoxicated!'' Hiashi hissed at the hokage. He was utterly pissed about what happened to his nephew and so were the rest of his clan.

''Excuse me if I want to let my hair down once in a while! I have my own needs too you know!''

''You are acting like a child.''

''That's because you are practically yelling in my face!'' Tsunade shot back, banging her fists on the table. She had tried to be civil with him, but that clearly wasn't going to work anymore.

''Um...'' Shizune said hesitantly, taking a step towards the arguing adults.

''What is it?'' Tsunade hissed at her.

''I uh..I thought we were going to talk about Hyuuga Neji's living arrangements, not argue like a bunch of little kids..'' Shizune responded boldly, shrinking back against the wall when her boss gave her a dirty look.

''What about it?'' Hiashi asked, trying to calm down.

''I do not want him to stay at the compound.'' Tsunade said simply, sitting down in her chair and giving the Hyuuga Clan leader a hard look.

''And why not?'' Hiashi asked, insulted. His compound was most certainly a wonderful place to live and was a perfectly peaceful place for someone to recover from injuries. ''Neji has recovered at home before. This should be no different.''

Tsunade laughed right in his face, not caring when he glared at her. ''Do you honestly think that? Think about what happened before telling me that he will be comfortable in a place with people who look down on others on a daily basis.'' she said.

Hiashi glared at her silently. ''Fine.'' he said stiffly. ''Then where do you suggest he stay?''

''That'll be up to him.'' Tsunade said, shrugging as she swiveled her chair around so the back of it was facing the clan leader.

* * *

The next morning was completely black. No specks of light, not orange glow from the rising sun, nothing, and it made Neji irritated. Hell, it could be midnight for all he knew. But he was certain that it was morning because it was slightly cool, unlike the blistering heat of the day or the chill of that came with night time.

The Hyuuga sighed as a breeze blew in from his window, stirring up his blankets and part of his hair. He was getting sick of this. He wanted to train so badly at this point. He had always been extremely restless when he had to stay in bed because of an injury and this time was no different.

He had tried to preoccupy his time with thoughts of what he was going to do now. Where is he supposed to go from here? Back to teaching his genin? Most certainly not. If he couldn't even take care of himself, how could he take care of three kids? Well then what about going back to being a regular jounin? No. Same result. Anbu? Forget it.

Thinking about all of these things only ended up making the jounin angry and irritable. He didn't like being in this situation at all. '_But I suppose this is my punishment for being so foolish.._' he thought bitterly. The Hyuuga suddenly heard the door to his room open slowly. He turned his head in the direction of the sound, even though he couldn't see who it was.

''Neji-niisan..'' he heard a timid voice call out to him.

''Hinata-sama..'' Neji greeted his younger cousin.

''Neji!'' was the only warning said person received before he was caught in a bear hug by his other cousin, Hanabi. ''Are you okay?'' the youngest of the three cousins said, on the verge of tears. She and Neji had grown closer over the years and had almost the same strong as he and Hinata did, only theirs was a little weaker because Hanabi didn't have as many chances to see Neji as her elder sister did.

''I'm fine Hanabi..'' the elder hyuga said, even though he was anything but. He knew that if he was to keep sitting here alone he would go into depression. The dark thoughts and self loathing were proving too much to handle and Neji couldn't help thinking about them. He was glad though, that at least he had some company now to distract him.

''No you're not!'' Hanabi said, strengthening the intensity of the hug. ''You're..you..''

Hinata watched the scene silently and was about to intervene when her father beat her to it.

''Hanabi, you are being overbearing..'' Hiashi scolded his youngest daughter as he stepped into the hospital room, shutting the door behind him.

''Hiashi-sama...'' Neji said, surprised that his uncle would come and see him. He usually never did when he has in the hospital..

Hanabi looked back at her father and reluctantly let go of her cousin. She took a step away from the bed and apologized softly for her actions.

''You shouldn't apologize, Hanabi. You were only concerned for my well being..'' Neji said, inwardly wishing that he could see his family before him.

''So how are you feeling, Neji?'' Hiashi asked when the room gone quiet for a moment.

''I could be better'' Neji replied honestly. He actually had a large headache since this morning.

''Are you in any pain?'' Hinata asked softly, sounding closer to him than he had originally thought she was.

''Some.. but it's nothing I can't handle.'' Neji said, smirking.

''That is good to hear.'' he heard his uncle respond this time. ''I am sorry to say this, but I can not stay long. I have a meeting to get to.'' the eldest in the room said.

''I thank you for taking the time to come see me beforehand.'' Neji responded politely.

''It is no trouble, and actually, I have been asked by the hokage to explain your living arrangements until we sort everything out.''

''What do you mean?'' Neji asked, confused. ''I thought I was to stay at the compound..''

''I thought so too, but the hokage is quite set on you staying somewhere else. She thinks that you will be uncomfortable there..'' the clan leader added before his nephew had a chance to ask about it. ''So where would you wish to stay temporarily?''

Neji was silent for a while, thinking, before a familiar, lazy voice answered for him.

''He can stay with me.''

* * *

**Hazaa! It ish complete! XD Wee-hoo! I actually thought that I wouldn't be able to finish this because I came down with a cold over the week. -.- Stupid germs :[**

**But! I did it! Yay, Neji lives! And *gasp!* Whats Hiashi gonna say about Neji movin in with Shika? :OO Zomg, you'll find out next time, you silly gooses XD**

**As always, thanks for the reviews and please leaveth me some more :] I love you all :3**


	11. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer**: Do you really think I would be writing stories about these characters if I already owned them? -.-

The anime/manga series 'Naruto' along with all of its characters belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing.

**Songs: Year Without Rain by Selena Gomez, Michi from Naruto, You Set Me Free by Michelle Branch, Man of the World from Naruto Shippuden and Siuil A Run by Celtic Woman, as always.**

* * *

All four Hyuuga's in the room turned back to the source of the voice, where Shikamaru was lazily leaning his back against the doorway. The Nara's hands were stuffed in his pockets and he had a look of total boredom on his face. The shadow-nin had his eyes trained on Neji, who had figured out who his visitor was just by hearing his voice.

''Shikamaru..'' Neji said, surprised. He had been told that no one but family was allowed to see him until later on today.

Hiashi looked between the two boys and frowned. His nephew had told him that he and the Nara had been spending time together after he had acquired his genin team, but the Hyuuga lord hadn't thought that their friendship was that close yet, so he was understandably confused by this. Before the elder Hyuuga could inquire about this though, an angry haze of yellow and white angrily stomped into the room.

''Nara...Shikamaru!'' Ino panted angrily, glaring death at said shinobi as she placed a hand over her racing heart. ''I TOLD you that no one but family is allowed in until this evening!'' she snapped at her obviously unaffected team mate before turning her attention to the four confused Hyuugas.

''I am terribly sorry about this.'' she said, giving an apologetic bow before standing upright and glaring at Shikamaru. ''But he wouldn't take no for an answer.'' she huffed, placing her hand on her hip.

The Nara chose to remain silent, not taking his eyes away from Neji.

Hiashi-sama noticed this and his frown deepened. ''It's quite alright.'' he said ''I would like to hear what this young man has to say..''

Ino raised an eyebrow at Shikamaru but otherwise remained silent.

''Troublesome..'' Shikamaru muttered under his breathe. ''Neji and I have actually become good friend over the past month and it's just a suggestion since I have an extra room.'' he said, shutting his eyes and shrugging. ''Take it or leave it.''

'_He's lying.._' Neji thought to himself, distinctly remembering the fact that there was only one bedroom in the Nara's whole apartment.

''But Shikamaru..'' Ino whispered, knowing for a fact that he only had one bedroom, only to have Shikamaru give her a hard look that told her to be quiet.

''It's sounds like a good idea father.'' Hanabi piped up from next to her parent.

Hiashi looked down at his daughter, a contemplating thought upon his face. ''Hm...if this decision were actually up to me, I would require more persuasion than that..'' the Hyuuga Lord said, a disapproving frown on his face as he looked the Nara over. ''But the decision is not up to me..''

Neji could distinctly hear the ruffling of clothing, as if someone were turning around and when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, he knew that everyone in the room was observing him. He was quiet for a moment as he thought about this seriously. Shikamaru was more or less his significant other and they would most likely be living together for a long period of time.

He knew that some times when living together, couples would get sick of each other very fast and decide to break it off, but he also knew that this kind of experience could completely go the opposite way and end up strengthening their relationship instead of crushing it, his team mates being a prime example.

He was curious as to how this would end up, though, and it would give the two of them time to grow closer. Neji could already feel himself sinking into depression over all of this and maybe being with the Nara would make him relax some. There was always this peaceful aura than enveloped the Hyuuga whenever Shikamaru was near..

Also, honestly, where else could he have gone? His team mates were out of the question since they were living together at Lee's apartment. And Gai-sensei...no. Just no.

''I suppose it wouldn't be that bad of an idea..'' he said after a moment of thought.

''Then it is settled.'' Hiashi said, happy to have finally come to a conclusion. ''I trust that you will inform Neji's temporary guardian of everything he would need to know.'' he said, turning his attention towards Ino, whom he had been told that was his nephew's doctor.

Said girl blinked, slightly stunned about everything. She quickly snapped out of it and nodded. ''Yes. I will personally make sure Shikamaru will be well informed.'' the blonde assured, giving a small smile.

''Excellent.'' Hiashi said and turned his attention back over to his nephew. ''As I have said before, Neji, I have a meeting to get to so I really must be going. I hope that your condition improves in the future.''

''I thank you for coming, Hiashi-sama'' Neji said, politely.

''It was no trouble.'' was the last the prodigy heard from his uncle before he heard the sound of footsteps fading away into the distance.

''Well!'' Ino said, clapping her hands. ''Shikamaru and I will leave you three alone to your visit.'' she said, smiling at the three Hyuugas and grabbing her team mate's upper arm in a death grip.

''But..'' Shikamaru said, reluctantly taking his eyes off of Neji.

''You can see him in six hours!'' Ino hissed, dragging him out of the room and shutting the door.

Hinata laughed softly at this and turned her attention back to her sister and cousin. She sat in a chair next to her cousin's bed and listened to the conversation between the two. She bit the inside of her lip and glanced at the door where Shikamaru had once been standing and then back to Neji.

She remembered the conversation about the Nara's 'mystery' girlfriend and the traits that said person was supposed to have. The heiress moved her eyes over to Neji, the pupiless orbs tracing over his features. '_Long, dark hair...and his white Hyuuga robes that he usually wears._' She frowned as she thought about the fact that Neji would now be living with the Nara for an extended period of time. That only proved that there was something going on between them.

'_Or maybe they are just friends and I am reading into this too much.._' Hinata contemplated, inwardly sighing. '_I'll just ask him later.._' she thought, just wanting to spend time with her cousin right now instead of bothering him with her silly assumptions.

* * *

''Ino.'' Shikamaru complained as he was dragged down one hallway after another through the hospital. ''Stop pulling. You're getting on my nerves.''

''Too bad.'' Ino said, opening the door to her office and pushing him inside. She slammed the door shut and crossed her arms, glaring at the Nara.

''What?'' Shikamaru asked, rubbing his temple with the palm of his hand.

"'What' is right! What just happened back there! You never told me that you were friends with Neji.''

''I'm sorry that I don't keep you filled in on everything in my life.'' Shikamaru said, frowning. ''The next time I walk down a street, I'll be sure to fill you in.'' he said sarcastically.

''It's not like that Shikamaru.'' Ino said angrily, placing her hands on her hips. ''Neji is under my care and even though _he_ might be okay with staying with you, I'm not entirely sure that _I_ am.''

''It's not like I'm some stranger, Ino.'' the Nara responded, sighing. He _so_ didn't want to deal with this right now.

''I know that! I'm confused okay? I've never seen you two together before and you just suddenly say you guys are best pals out of the blue? How do you think I'm gonna react?''

''We started hanging out when Neji got his team. I was the teacher of the class that he observed in and I gave him the team.''

''You never told me that..'' Ino said, frowning.

''You never asked.'' Shikamaru said, shrugging.

''Smart ass..'' the Yamamaka said.

The room went silent as Ino contemplated letting Shikamaru take care of Neji. '_She probably thinks I'm gonna ruin everything or something..' _the Nara thought, a frown on his face.

''Hm...Fine then. I guess I'll let it slide this time, but you have to promise me that you won't neglect Neji,_ AND_ you owe me some cherry tomatoes when you come back to get Neji when we discharge him tonight.'' she said, after a moment. A smile was on her face as she excitedly thought about her favorite food.

''Fine.'' Shikamaru grumbled, scratching the back of his neck. She always weaseled him into getting those for her whenever she could. They weren't exactly cheap either. '_Troublesome woman.._'

* * *

A few hours later, Neji woke up after his short nap to the sound of someone knocking quietly on his door. He frowned and sat up in his bed. He wasn't up for entertaining guests right now, especially since his cousins had left him only a short while ago.

''Enter.'' Neji said, fixing his pillow so that he could rest his back against the soft surface while he sat up. He heard the door open and about five pairs of feet enter the room.

''Hey sensei.'' Neji could immediately recognize the voice to be Youjis. His voice was clipped and low, as if he was willing himself to speak. It also sounded sad to the Hyuuga, nothing like how the Inuzuka usually sounded.

''We just wanted to come and see how you were doin..'' Damien said, shutting the door behind his team.

''I am quite fine, thank you.'' Neji said, hearing the sound of panting and clawed feet padding around the tiled floor.

''Of course you are! I told you guys that he'd be okay!''

Neji smirked when he heard this. That was the Youji that he knew.. ''What did you expect?'' he asked confidently, even though he had been most of the past few days being so angry at himself for being so stupid as to let himself get caught by the enemy. He quickly forced that thought into the back of his mind and focused on his company instead.

Just then, the Hyuuga felt a large weight settle on his bed next to his right hip and then something warm and slippery licking at his forearm. Neji chuckled and ran his hand over Stubba's soft fur. ''You brought her along as well?''

''Duh, sensei! I bring Stubba _everywhere_!''

Neji inwardly shook his head at that response. Soon, he, Damien and Youji were caught up in conversation about what the Hyuuga had missed while he had been away. Apparently, Gai-sensei had taken over training the four of them while his student was away and no one on his team were very fond of him.

''He's so mean! He made us do fifty laps around the village...on our hands!'' Youji complained.

''Not to mention, he's just plain creepy..'' Damien added, mentally shuttering when he remembered that on first day of training with the 'youthful' man, he had wanted to make them all wear green spandex. It wasn't a very good first impression..

Neji shook his head at this. ''You three need to learn discipline.''

''Well yea but would you have made us do all that? I can barely feel my arms.'' Youji said, waving said limp appendages in the air. Stubba barked at the display from her spot on the floor, where she had gone when Neji had kicked her off of his bed.

''That's because you thought we had to do eighty laps, not fifty.'' Damien said, smirking.

''Hey! I can barely understand Gai-sensei! And not to mention, he was running off into the distance and yelling! Hell if I know what he was saying.''

As the two boys were fighting, Neji focused his attention to the slow and small intakes of breathe coming from next to his bed. Namine had been very quiet throughout the whole visit, not even uttering a word ever since she walked in. ''Namine, is everything alright?''

Said girl, who had been watching her team mates go at it, blinked and looked back at her sensei. She had been focusing all of her attention on the conversation rather than Neji himself because she didn't want to think about what had happened. She didn't even want to go and see him today, but Youji had literally dragged her out of her house.

Now, looking at her sensei, Namine could feel tears coming into her eyes. She remembered how scared she had felt when she saw him first being brought in. She remembered being overwhelmed with sadness and worry when Sakura had explained what had happened to him and she also remembered that empty feeling she felt when she had to walk to training alone.

Clear droplets of water fell from her dark blue colored eyes before she could stop them. Damien was the first to notice this and stopped his bickering with his friend, Youji following suit. Namine willed herself to be silent as the tears continued to fall. ''I'm fine..sensei.'' she said softly, gripping the sides of her pants with her fingers.

Neji remained silent and the Haruno took this as her cue to rid her face of the trail of tears that didn't seem to stop coming. As soon as her hand moved to go up to her face, she felt a hand grip her wrist. The young kunoichi gasped and looked at her sensei in confusion as he trailed his hand up her arm, to her neck and then to her face. He frowned when he felt her tears. ''It appears that you aren't as fine as you say you are..'' he said gently, cupping her cheek with his hand as the rest of the team looked on at the two with sad expressions.

Namine bit the inside of her lip and gripped her sensei's hand in both of her own as she let the tears come. Damien forced his eyes onto the ground as Youji bit his lip, shielding his eyes from the world with his forearm.

''Listen to me. All of you.'' Neji said sternly, getting their attention immediately. ''Everything is going to be fine. Don't not concern yourselves.''

''But how sensei? How is everything going to be alright?'' Youji asked, tearing his forearm away from his face, not afraid to let everyone know that he was crying. ''You can't be our sensei anymore! Without your eyes..'' he said, clenching his fist at his sides as he turned his face to the ground. He closed his eyes as the tears fell onto the floor.

Neji sighed. This was true. Without his eyes, he was basically useless to his team. ''I don't know but..I will figure something out.'' he promised, gently squeezing Namine's hands in his own.

''I won't stop..'' Namine suddenly spoke up, causing her team to look at her confused. ''Every day..Ino, Aunty Sakura and I...we work to figure something out...and I won't stop..trying to help you get back on your feet, sensei. Not until you come back and train us. It just...training doesn't feel the same without you teaching us..'' she said, gripping her sensei's hand in her own tightly.

''I won't stop either!'' Youji said, wiping his tears away and having a determined look on his face. ''I'll help in anyway I can. Until you come back to us, sensei!''

''Me too.'' Damien added. ''We haven't been a team for very long.. but it just doesn't feel the same without you, sensei!''

Neji was surprised when he suddenly felt three pairs of arms encircle him for a hug and then a familiar weight jump up onto his bed again. He had never been one to like hugs, but he found himself unable to complain as his students enveloped him in a bear hug. He gave a small smile and hugged them all back the best he could, only able to come up with two words to show how grateful he was to have such an amazing team.

''Thank you..''

* * *

''Okay, Shika.'' Ino said when it was around time for Neji to be discharged. She swiveled her chair around with her feet as she happily consumed her cherry tomatoes that the Nara had given her. ''Neji can't have his eyes sockets come into direct contact with the sun. No training and you have to put the droplets I gave you into his sockets about four times a day and make sure there is no light anywhere in the room when you do it. Make sure he doesn't get water into them when he's taking a bath. Wrap up his bandages loosely and gently after every time you put in the eye drops, and please make sure he doesn't walk into anything.'' Ino said, frowning at her team mate.

''Yea yea yea..'' Shikamaru said as he too swiveled his own chair around with his foot. The Nara was sitting in the chair backwards with one of his legs on either side of the back of the chair. He had just gotten here about ten minutes ago and already Ino was bossing him around..

''Listen to me, Shikamaru!'' Ino scolded, picking up a tomato and eating it. ''If you don't do exactly as I say, you could seriously injure Neji.''

''No sunlight, no water, no training, droplets four times, wrap loosely and no hitting anything. I got it, sheesh.'' Shikamaru groaned. Sometimes he wondered if his team mate thought he was stupid or something. Which he most obviously wasn't.

''And, once every two days, I'm gonna come and make sure that you're not messing things up.'' Ino said, swiveling her chair around in a full circle.

''I won't 'mess things up''' Shikamaru defended himself.

''Yea. That's what you said about Chouji's surprise birthday party last year..''

''Hey. I didn't tell him. He found out on his own.''

''Whatever.'' Ino said, dismissing it with a wave of her hand. ''It's about time. Let's go.'' she said, glancing at her clock. Both of them got up and left the room. Ino grabbed the door handle to Neji's room when they arrived and knocked. The talking that had been going on within the room suddenly stopped.

''Come in!'' Shikamaru could recognized Youji's voice answer for Neji instead and Ino opened the door when she heard it.

The blonde smiled as she and her team mate entered the room. ''Sorry, kiddies.'' She teased. ''It's time to go.''

''Awe man!'' Youji complained and Ino laughed.

''Yep! So come on. Out cha go!'' the blonde said and herded the genin out of the room.

''See you, Neji-sensei.''

''But..ugh. Fine. See ya, sensei!''

''Bye sensei!''

''Woof!''

The four said their goodbyes before leaving, causing Neji to shake his head at them.

''How sweet.'' Ino commented as she shut the door.

''Pfft. They're anything but.'' Shikamaru said, frowning as he remembered Youji and Damien pulling prank after prank on him when they were still in the academy.

''Oh, stop being such a kill joy.'' Ino said, waving a hand at him. ''Anyways, ready to go Neji?''

''I'm as ready as I'll ever be, I suppose..''

''Good. Because there are a few things I need to go over with you.'' Ino said as she shoved her box of cherry tomatoes into Shikamaru's hands. ''No sunlight on your eye sockets or water, no pushing yourself to do things and most important, no training.'' she said sternly as she went over to the bureau in the room that held Neji's clothes. She opened it up and pulled out the pieces of clothing. ''And also, let Shikamaru do things for you. I know that you're stubborn and like to do things yourself. But I can not stress this enough, take it easy this time around, okay?''

''Understood.'' Neji responded without a moment's hesitation. He had always been disciplined when it came to following orders, even though these were not to his liking. He hated being cared for when he was injured. It's degrading.

''Good. Now..you think you can handle getting dressed by yourself?'' Ino asked as she went over to the prodigy. She grabbed his arm gently and pulled him out of the bed and onto his feet.

''I'm sure that I can manage.'' Neji said as his doctor handed him his clothes.

''Alright. Call me if you need me and let us know when you're done. Oh and before I forget, I had Hinata drop off some of your clothes at Shikamaru's place this afternoon so you don't have to worry about it'' Ino said, ushering her team mate and herself out, Neji thanking her before they were completely out of the room.

* * *

Once Neji was dressed, Ino went over with both of them, in detail, what was to be done and how to do it. It didn't sound too hard, Shikamaru presumed, but it would still be a drag.. Well, at least he would get to be with Neji. That's all he cared about at this point. He still felt that most of what happened was his fault and he wanted to make it up to the Hyuuga in any way that he could.

''Okay, just one more thing.'' Ino said and clapped her hands, giving Shikamaru a stern look. ''When walking Neji back to your apartment, you must make sure he doesn't hit anything.''

''We already went over this.'' Shikamaru grumbled, just wanting to go home.

''Yea but we didn't go over how to hold his body so that you have complete control over where he is going and still be able to maneuver yourself.''

''I am not an object to be manipulated so please stop referring to me as one.'' Neji complained, not liking the way Ino was talking about him.

''Would you rather run into a wall?...Yea that's what I thought.'' Ino said after Neji was silent. ''Now Neji, please get up so that I can demonstrate for Shikamaru.''

Neji would have glared at her but could not for obvious reasons so he just go up silently. He took one step away from his bed and waited.

''Okay. So you wrap your arm around his back. And you hold his forearm with your other hand.'' Neji heard Ino say and felt her half encircle him with her body. ''This way, you have total control over him and yourself. Now you try.''

Neji remained still and calm as Shikamaru tried. The Nara inwardly smirked to himself when he felt Neji's warm back against the inside of his arm. '_We'd better take the long way home_..' he thought, loving the feeling of having Neji in his arms.

''Okay. That's everything.'' Ino said as she ate some more cherry tomatoes. ''Go slow and if you feel lightheaded Neji, take a break, okay?''

''I will'' Neji assured. His whole back was tingling from the warmth of Shikamaru's arm and he did like it, but what he didn't like was the fact that this position was for him to be 'controlled'. He didn't like the sound of that and also, he wasn't too happy about the fact that people would be staring at him in public for being so close with another male. '_Well. It is late in the evening..Not to many people will be out and __about._''

''Oh yea, one more thing..'' Ino said, causing Shikamaru to inwardly groan. All he wanted to do was leave. ''Where is..Neji gonna sleep?''

At this, Neji turned his head in Shikamaru's direction. He had been wondering the same thing actually.

''In my bed.'' Shikamaru said, shrugging.

''But you never give up your bed.'' Ino said with a questioning tone, raising a slender eyebrow.

''You've sat on my couch before. It's practically a bed. I'll manage.'' Shikamaru said.

''Oh..okay then.'' Ino said. ''Well. Have a safe trip I guess. I'll see you guys in two days for a check up.'' the Yamanaka said, opening the door to the room with her foot.

''Yea yea. See ya.'' Shikamaru grumbled and gently tugged Neji to walk with him out of the room.

Neji frowned at being led somewhere when there was no way to see where he was going, but he forced himself to bear it. ''Thank you for everything, Ino.''

''No problem, Neji. I'll let you know when me, Sakura and Tsunade-sama figure something out okay.''

''Alright.'' Neji said as Shikamaru continued to lead him through the halls of the hospital. He could hear footsteps all around him and whispers of people talking. It had been much quieter in his hospital room, but this was nothing he couldn't handle.

The Hyuuga sighed as he felt the cool evening breeze wash over him as they finally made it outside. The couple continued and Neji decided to break the silence. ''You didn't have to do that you know..Let me stay with you I mean..''

''Did you really think I would pass up a chance like this after I haven't seen you in weeks?'' Shikamaru asked, chuckling.

''Is that your way of saying that you missed me?'' Neji asked, smirking.

''Yea. I guess it is..'' The Hyuuga heard Shikamaru say before he felt the shadow-nin nuzzle his hair with his nose. He also felt the grip on his waist tighten and pull him closer to the other shinobi. Neji, of course, didn't know if this was simply because he was about to walk into something or if Shikamaru just wanted them to be closer, but the Hyuuga was confident that it was most likely the latter.

After a short while, Shikamaru pulled away from the Hyuuga and looked at Neji sadly. ''So what exactly happened? You promised me that you would be safe.'' he finally asked what he had been dying to know for the past two days. He still felt that this was his fault for not stopping Neji, when in reality, there was no way that he could have known that this was going to happen.

The Nara felt the other boy tense in his arms before Neji spoke in a professional tone, ''I was ambushed and taken captive.'' Shikamaru could tell by the way he spoke that he didn't want to talk about this right now and decided to let it slide for now. Neji would tell him when he's ready.

''Hm..'' Was all the shadow-nin offered in reply as he guided the prodigy down the streets of the village. He left Neji to his own thoughts and the two were quickly enveloped in silence as they trudged on.

After a while, Neji abruptly stopped, startling the Nara slightly by the sudden movement. ''I need to rest..'' was all the Hyuuga offered as an explanation.

'_Well at least he's not pushing himself_..' Shikamaru thought, looking around for a place to sit when he felt a raindrop land on his nose. He frowned and looked up at the sky, inwardly cursing to himself when he saw dark clouds looming overhead. ''Unless you want to be soaked to the bone, I suggest we keep moving.'' the Nara said, having noticed earlier that there were no dry places to wait the storm out and all of the shops close by were closed.

Neji sighed and blinked slowly underneath his bandages. ''Fine.'' he said slowly, even though he felt like he would collapse any minute now. He hadn't gotten out of bed for three days and Ino had explained to him before that the aftereffects of the surgery might still be with him from before so he should take it easy. Not to mention, he hadn't gotten any sleep today whatsoever because of all the visits from his family and his team.

Shikamaru frowned at Neji's response. He looked at the Hyuuga and could see from the parts of his face that were not bandaged, that he couldn't go on much longer. He looked completely exhausted. ''Hold on. I've got a better idea.''

Before Neji could ask what it was, Shikamaru removed his arm from around him and let go of his forearm. ''What are-?'' Neji started to say but was cut off when Shikamaru placed a hand on his back and another hand on the back of his knees and the hyuuga prodigy found himself lifted once again into the Nara's arms.

''Shikamaru.'' Neji hissed. ''I let you do this once. I'm not going to allow you do it again.'' he snapped, struggling.

''This way will be faster and you won't have to push yourself.'' Shikamaru said, taking off at a run towards his apartment, Neji protesting along the whole way, demanding to be put down.

* * *

Even though Shikamaru had tried his best to avoid getting wet, it didn't help much. They were still soaked when they got home. Shikamaru had taken off his jounin vest for Neji to use as a sort of umbrella so that his eye sockets wouldn't get wet.

The Nara adjusted his grip on the Hyuuga's thighs as he finally made it into the lobby of his apartment. He completely ignored the confused look the people in the room cast him and went over to the stairs. He inwardly groaned and looked down at the genius in his arms. '_Great. It was too much of an effort to pull myself up these stairs. Now I have to carry someone else on top of that? I knew this was a bad idea.._'

He let out on last sigh before beginning his ascent up the stairs. He looked down at Neji, who had gone silent for quite some time now. Even though the Nara was happy about it finally being quiet, he began to worry when he felt the Hyuuga slightly shivering from being soaked to the bone.

This alone pushed him to move faster and in no time, they arrived at his apartment door. '''Neji, can you get my keys? They're in my front pocket.'' he asked, seeing as he couldn't get it himself. Of course, he could have put Neji down, but he didn't want to risk it because the Hyuuga might still be tired.

Shikamaru felt Neji reach his hand into his pocket and pull out his keys. The Nara guided him to where the lock was and they eventually got the door open together. Shikamaru kicked the door with his foot, uncaring when it slammed into the wall, most likely giving the elderly couple who lived next door a heart attack.

The Nara walked into his apartment and kicked the door shut just as loudly as he had kicked it open. ''Hey Neji..are you okay?'' Shikamaru asked as he walked over to the couch and set him down on the soft material, not caring whether it got wet or not. It would dry.

''Yes.'' was all the Hyuuga offered him in response.

'_Great. He's pissed._' Shikamaru thought as he stood up. He went over to the door and turned on the light switch. ''I'm gonna go get you some dry clothes and some towels.'' he said and excused himself, picking up the folded piece of paper that was waiting for him on the table. As he walked down his hallway to his bedroom, he unfolded the piece of paper and read what was inside.

'_Shikamaru, _

_You're father and I came to see you this morning, but you weren't here. We wanted to surprise you, but you ended up surprising _us. _You're usually never up this early. _

_Anyway, come and see us when you get the chance. It's been ages since I've seen my little boy._

_Love you, Mom'_

Shikamaru groaned when he finished reading the paper. He didn't have time to go and see them. Not when he was taking care of Neji. '_But knowing mom, she won't take that as an excuse.._' He sighed, deciding to see them later as he picked through the clothes that Hinata had brought over and picked out a suitable shirt and some grey sweatpants. He stood up and walked into his bathroom and got two towels before heading back into his living room, finding Neji in the exact same position as he was when he left him.

''Do you need any help getting dressed?'' Shikamaru asked, setting the towels down on the coffee table.

Neji, who had cooled down some when he was left alone, nodded and stood up. ''I found earlier that I was having trouble with the buttons..''

''Buttons?'' Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow. He only saw the button on Neji's shirt.

''My pants also have a button..'' Neji said calmly.

Shikamaru looked down from Neji's shirt to his pants and gulped. ''Oh..'' he said. He took a step towards the Hyuuga and took the shirt button into his fingers. He undid it with ease and then looked downwards.

''How do I...undo this thing?'' the Nara asked, tugging on the long haired ninja's black piece of clothing over his pants.

''If you so much as think of calling it a skirt, I will hurt you.'' Neji said seriously.

'_Yea, you wish_' Shikamaru thought, fully aware that Neji was probably no match for a genin right now. ''Yea yea.. how does it come off?''

''There's a tie in the back.'' Neji said simply and Shikamaru nodded, reaching both arms around Neji's waist to grip the ties in the back. He pulled at the knot that he found there, taking his sweet time as he sneaked closer to the Hyuuga until their chests were against each other. He placed his chin on Neji's shoulder, pretending that he was only doing this so that he could see what he was doing.

Neji was silent as he felt this. He wasn't entirely mad at the Nara anymore for carrying him around Konoha like he was a princess. He understood that it was only for his own well being. He started when he felt Shikamaru kiss that one spot on his neck that had him shivering. He frowned when didn't feel the Nara's hands moving to untie the knot. '_That tease.._' he thought as he realized that the shadow-nin had no intention of helping him get rid of his belt. Neji bit the inside of his lip as he felt teeth bite his neck. Maybe the Nara was going to help him get rid of his clothes after all, the way this was going..

Shikamaru pulled back from his Hyuuga. He kissed the boy's temple and looked down at Neji's clothes. He could see practically everything because most of the Hyuuga's wardrobe was white. He let his eyes trace over Neji's body hungrily, feeling no shame for doing so as he pulled at the tie of Neji's belt, the black material falling from the boy's body once he did.

The jounin found himself shivering when the shadow-nin placed his hands on his chest. Shikamaru let his hands tease the Hyuuga's nipples for a moment before slowly running them down his sides to grasp at the button to his pants.

Shikamaru undid the button as he felt Neji place his own hands under the Nara's soaked turtle neck sweater. The Hyuuga let himself be pushed back onto the couch by Shikamaru when the chuunin gently eased him backwards.

Neji found himself lying flat on the couch, his feet hanging off of the edge awkwardly because there wasn't enough room to accommodate his whole body. The Hyuuga felt the shadow-nin place his hands on either side of him and light kisses and nips were placed on neck, causing him to shiver.

'_I think I'm going to like it here_..' was the last thought that Neji remembered thinking before he a pair of warm lips were placed over his, both the Hyuuga and the Nara too caught up in each other to notice that it had finally stopped raining outside..

* * *

**Yosh! It ish completed! :D Wow, I did this in one day, yay! I thought I wasn't going to be able to but I pushed onward! Teehee :3**

**Whats up next for our lovely couple? I know, but you don't :D but don't worry, I'll tell ya next time :] As always, thanks to all those who have reviewed and please leaveth me some feedback :3 I would really appreciate it**

**Review Replies:**

**Purple and Green Zebras: Muffin Basket? Zomg where? You never cease to amaze me with your weirdness buddy -.- Thanks for reviewing, as always, and I shall see-eth you on tomorrow my crazy friend :D**

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**Please review, silly gooses and let me know what ya thought. Til next time, see ya :D**

***By the way, my editor has demanded that I say that I need a minimum of 4 reviews before I am allowed to post again. She is so mean :[**


	12. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer**: Do you really think I would be writing stories about these characters if I already owned them? -.-

The anime/manga series 'Naruto' along with all of its characters belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing.

**Music: Stone Tower Temple theme from Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, U Can Do It by Domino, Oogway Ascends from Kung Fu Panda, Waving Flag by Spain from Axis Powers Hetalia, Ave Maria by David Bisbal, Royal Castle from Legend of Dragoon(I LOVE THIS GAME!) and Grenade by Bruno Mars**

* * *

The world was again a black void of nothing when Neji opened his eyes the next morning. He sighed to himself. This was the third day that he had woken up this way and already he was tired of the darkness that shadowed over his vision. Neji frowned and forced himself to tough it out though, he was to blame for this. No one else.

The Hyuuga frowned and pushed those thoughts aside as he sat up in Shikamaru's bed, which the Nara had graciously given him for the time being, even though Neji told him continuously that he didn't want to kick him out of his own room.

'_It's my bed. I can lend it out if I want to._' he had said, shrugging.

Neji didn't know exactly why Shikamaru would do something like this. The Hyuuga knew for a fact that the shadow-user loved to sleep, so it didn't make sense to him when he was given the bed. Of course his brain had come up with the clearly understandable answer of 'He's doing this because he LIKES you.', but the jounin had quickly focused his mind on something else. He was still unsure of how he actually felt about Shikamaru. He had feelings for him, yes, and there was a connection between them, but Neji wasn't sure if what he was feeling was love or something else. He didn't have anything to base off of because he had never really had that in his life before. He had always been too busy training to even think about such frivolous things.

The Hyuuga prodigy frowned when an alluring scent reached his nose. '_Bananas?_' he thought, confused as he turned his head in the direction the smell was coming from. He got up slowly, reaching his hand out and laying it flat against the wall, using it as a guide until he found the doorway.

Once he did, he removed his hand and then put it on the wall in the hallway. He walked down the short way to the living room, secretly counting how many steps it took before his hand reached the shoji door that separated the living room from the kitchen.

The prodigy frowned when he found that the shoji door was closed. He went to open it himself to see what it was that Shikamaru was doing, but it opened by itself before he could even touch the door handle.

Shikamaru stared at Neji, not saying anything for a minute before stating the obvious in an annoyed tone, ''You're up.''

Neji raised an eyebrow in confusion at this. ''Yes.'' he replied, frowning as Shikamaru opened the door fully and retreated back into the kitchen. With little difficulty, the Hyuuga found the kitchen table and took a seat, listening intently as Shikamaru moved about his kitchen noisily.

'_He seems bothered.._' Neji thought to himself when he heard Shikamaru curse at some kitchen utensil for not cooperating. '_It must be too early for him._' he thought, inwardly smirking.

''What is it that you are making?'' the Hyuuga asked as the pungent smell of bananas once again reached his nose.

''Well...'' Shikamaru said, battling with his spatula over a hot burner. ''It's _supposed_ to be banana pancakes.''

''Supposed to be?'' Neji asked, raising an eyebrow.

''My spatula hates me.'' was all that Shikamaru offered in reply, causing Neji to chuckle to himself at how childish he sounded. He could just imagine the chuunin tossing the stupid kitchen utensil out the window in anger.

A pregnant silence filled the room whilst the Hyuuga was being entertained by his thoughts. Soon after, Neji heard something clink against the table in front of him. The young prodigy sighed to himself when the pungent smell of the pancakes reached his nose, ignoring the small sounds Shikamaru made when he put his own plate and two glasses down on the table.

''What do you want to drink?'' the Nara asked as he sauntered over to his refrigerator.

''Just some water would be great.'' Neji asked, somewhat distracted as he tried to find his eating utensils while trying not to look like an idiot at the same time.

''Water with pancakes?'' Shikamaru asked, looking back at the Hyuuga in confusion. Usually people drank milk or something during breakfast.

''Humor me.'' Neji said as he finally found his fork and knife.

''Alright.'' Shikamaru said skeptically as he got some milk and some water out from the refrigerator.

Neji went silent as he was confronted by a new task, actually finding his food on his plate and cutting it up.

''Ya need help?'' Shikamaru asked as he kicked the door to the refrigerator closed with his foot, causing the appliance to jiggle a little before going still. He noticed that the Hyuuga hadn't even touched his food yet.

''No.'' was Neji's clipped reply as he stabbed blindly at his pancakes with his fork. He didn't need or want any help. He could do this beyond simple task on his own.

''I think you do.'' Shikamaru replied, amused as he watched the prodigy stab his plate over and over again.

Neji didn't reply to this, which made the Nara sigh. He put down the cartons of milk and water and moved behind the Hyuuga, who stiffened when feeling a presence behind him.

Shikamaru took hold of Neji's hands, holding strong when the Hyuuga attempted to get his hands out of the Nara's grip.

''Stop. I don't need nor want your help.'' Neji hissed, finally getting one hand loose, only to have it snatched up again immediately afterwords.

''Yes you do.'' Shikamaru said, ignoring the injured shinobi as he guided their conjoined hands to Neji's plate. He wrapped his fingers around the hand that was holding the fork to stab one of the plump little pancakes on the plate while he forced the Hyuuga's other hand to cut the circular food in half twice.

Neji frowned as he leaned back against the Nara's chest. He occasionally tried to pull his hands away or protest but Shikamaru didn't seem fazed at all. He was like an impassive rock of stubbornness.

Eventually, Neji stopped and chose to simmer in anger quietly as Shikamaru maneuvered his hands around. The Nara's hands were much bigger than Neji's, from what he could tell and they felt rougher than his own for some reason, the Hyuuga not really sure why. They both worked with their hands regularly, Neji probably more so because Shikamaru is always being lazy.

Now that Neji focused on the other boy's hands he found that they felt warm against his own skin and he also recognized that the younger ninja would occasionally rub his thumb in small circles over his skin. It felt odd but strangely comforting, Neji not finding the strength to even think about pulling away any more. It felt just..right to have Shikamaru so close to him, something he never took the time to notice before when they were intimate.

He felt a ''spark'', as most people would call it whenever the two of them would get intimate but he never really paid attention to it, being blinded by its bright sparks as things progressed too fast to appreciate it's colors, and now that Neji finally saw it, he didn't know what was going to become of it. It could just be lust or it could be love. He didn't know.

'_Love Shikamaru?_' Neji thought before snorting quietly to himself. '_Preposterous. That's too fast..._'. They had only been going out for a short while and that would be too fast to love someone. '_In love...?_' he thought next, his eyebrows coming together as he thought about himself being in love with Shikamaru. He actually didn't have an answer to that thought..

They haven't been together very long and they did know each other fairly well from all the missions they went on together when they were younger. Was that enough time to fall in love with someone?

The Hyuuga was so caught up in what he was feeling that he was startled when he felt lips press against his cheek.

''You can handle the rest.'' Shikamaru said when he finished cutting up the pancakes into smaller pieces. All Neji had to do now was search a little bit for all of them and he he would be fine. He let the prodigy go and walked over to the discarded cartons of liquid he just left sitting on the table.

''Okay..'' Neji said softly as the Nara poured him a glass. '_In love with Shikamaru?_' he thought, frowning. '_I don't know.._'

* * *

Breakfast had been enjoyable for the both of them. They conversed, Neji being a little quieter than usual, and the food had been delicious, even though Shikamaru told the Hyuuga time and time again that he had done a crappy job of cooking.

Presently, Shikamaru was cleaning up from breakfast while Neji listened to him grumble and complain about having to get off his lazy butt and clean for once.

''Shikamaru..'' the prodigy said, frowning. ''I could help with cleaning up you know. It's the least I can do since you are letting me stay here for the time being.'' he said, getting up from the table.

''No thanks.'' Shikamaru replied back quickly.

''Why not?'' Neji said, stilling his movements.

''There are..just no thanks, okay. I got this.''

''No. There are what, exactly?'' Neji asked, irritated as he could already guess where this conversation was going.

''I'm washing some knives.'' Shikamaru said, keeping his eyes down towards the soapy water he was working with in the sink.

''You don't trust me with something as simple as a sharp kitchen utensil?'' the Hyuuga said, going over to where Shikamaru was, listening to the sounds of glass tapping against each other in the sink. He was insulted to think that the Nara wouldn't trust him with something like this when he had been trained to handle kunai knives since he was five.

When the genius didn't reply Neji's frown deepened in anger. ''I can't believe you. I am not a child that can not handle dangerous weapons, Shikamaru. I can take care of myself.''

''No, Neji. Apparently you can't.'' The Nara said in his usual tone, causing Neji to take a small step backwards in irritation and embarrassment. He knew what Shikamaru was talking about and a small part of him knew that the Nara was right, but an even greater part of him was angry that he would say something like that, and in such a tone that suggested that he was talking about something casual like the weather. ''I only asked you to do one thing for me when you went on that mission and you couldn't even handle that.''

''I was ambushed.'' Neji spat, becoming angrier the longer this argument went on.

''And I thought you could be a better ninja than that.'' Shikamaru said, sighing and he shook his head. A jounin could have been able to handle himself easily, but Neji couldn't for some reason.

''As if you could speak.'' Neji shot back, anger taking over him easily in order to hide his reasons for being so distracted on his mission. ''You can barely keep your own living space clean. I'm surprised you can even handle yourself on the battlefield.''

Shikamaru let go of his silverware and took his hands out of the hot water. He crossed his arms and stared hard at the Hyuuga in front of him. ''Nice Ad Hominem attack.'' he said, frowning. ''When you actually can come up with a valid point to plead your case, I'll be in the living room.'' the younger ninja said and exited the room, leaving Neji to fester in his own anger by himself.

* * *

Shikamaru kept a neutral expression on his face as he did some of his paperwork. He was in the living room, sprawled out on the couch in an awkward position that anyone but him would have been uncomfortable in.

He sighed as he continued to write on his piece of paper. Things were going well with Neji but then the Hyuuga had to ruin it by suggesting that Shikamaru didn't trust him. He did trust him. He just..didn't want Neji to get hurt again.

It might sound selfish but that was the way Shikamaru felt. He didn't want to find himself in a situation where he almost lost Neji ever again. He couldn't handle it. Not again. He didn't want Neji going near anything dangerous and he wouldn't let him. Not while the jounin was under his care. Not while he has the chance to prevent any harm from coming to the prodigy.

Neji was special to him. More special than anyone that he even had relations with before. Shikamaru knew exactly why and he wasn't about to question his feelings. He knew what he felt. He wasn't so naive as to ignore the signs. Whenever Neji was around he felt calmer and happier, even though he didn't show it on the outside. He considered it his own fault that Neji lost his eyes, even though tons of people had already told him that it wasn't, and he always wanted to spend time with the Hyuuga whenever he could.

Shikamaru Nara knew he was in love. It did seem odd to him that this was happening so quickly in their relationship but he didn't mind. He had always been one to go with the flow. He would be damned, though, if he ever let anything happen to Neji ever again. Not when he messed up once already..

* * *

Neji slammed his hands down on the counter top, not caring whether Shikamaru heard him or not. He was angry. Not at Shikamaru though, at himself.

He could admit that it was his own fault that this happened to him. The truth was that he was actually just pushing to get the mission over and get one step closer to ANBU. He was thinking of the future. Not what was happening in the present, which led to his own downfall.

He felt ashamed and angered that this was the reason why this had to happen to him. He had always been cautious, planning out everything in advance and the ONE time he decides to be a little less prepared, his whole life becomes ruined.

'_I should have seen this coming. I should have been more prepared. This is all my fault.._' Neji thought to himself, glaring at the counter as he remembered his sensei's words...

_'A ninja must always be prepared for what lies ahead. You must learn this simple but incredibly important lesson if you wish to succeed in your life as a ninja.' _

''I've learned that now Gai-sensei..'' Neji whispered to himself. '_I only wish I could have learned it sooner.._'

* * *

It was a long while later when Neji finally exited the kitchen. He would have stayed in there longer but his bandages were becoming loose. He closed the door quietly behind him and listened to see if Shikamaru was actually in the living room as he said. When he heard quiet intakes and exhales of breathe he sighed and took a step towards the noise. ''Shikamaru..'' he called, only to receive no response.

''I need my bandages changed.'' Neji tried again, trying not to sound irritated.

''Troublesome.'' Shikamaru said and tossed his work onto his coffee table.

The shifting of clothing met Neji's ears and not long after, he felt a grip on his arm, pulling him softly towards the hallway and into the bedroom.

A little while later, the Hyuuga prodigy found himself sitting at the edge of Shikamaru's bed as the lazy nin took up residence behind him again. He felt the Nara sweep his long chocolate colored hair over his shoulder and fidget around with his bandages.

There was a silence in the room that wasn't as pleasant as the one that took place this morning. Neji didn't like it. This silence was filled with tension and it was making him feel very uncomfortable. So he broke it. ''Shikamaru..'' he said quietly.

''Hmm..'' the Nara responded, a part of the bandage in his mouth as he tried to undo the stupid knot that Ino had tied the day before.

''I'm..I'm sorry.'' Neji said, feeling Shikamaru release the bandages as soon as he did. ''I understand that my condition can not permit me to do certain things that I used to be able to before. So I apologize for being cruel to you this morning.'' he finished, not entirely thinking that he should be the only one to say sorry, but it was a step in the right direction.

''I just don't want you to hurt yourself.'' Shikamaru responded after a brief moment of being silent. ''I'll be blamed for it and I'll never hear the end of it from Ino if I do. She'll beat me with a bat.'' he said, trying to get rid of the tense atmosphere between them.

Neji smirked at this. ''Hn. I understand where you are coming from. That woman can be quite violent when she wants to be.'' he said, remembering how the blonde punched him one time for getting mud on her accidentally during a fight on a mission when it was raining and there was mud everywhere to begin with.

''Try _all the time_. She never gives me a break, I swear.'' the Nara said, glad that they were on good terms again, even though they were gossiping about his team mate.

Neji let a miniature smile grace his features when he and Shikamaru fell into a comfortable conversation. He was still a bit angry that the Nara hadn't said that he was sorry as well, but the Hyuuga was willing to let it slide this time. He was being distracted, much to his annoyance, by the soft touches Shikamaru was gracing him with throughout the conversation.

The sly chuunin would occasionally puff hot air onto his ear or stroke his hair in an intimate way, pretending that it was only accidental because he was trying to get Neji's bandages off. The Hyuuga knew better though, especially when the Nara leaned in and bit at the top of his ear.

''Shikamaru.'' Neji said, forcing down a shiver that threatened to crawl up his spine. ''If you are not going to focus on unwrapping my bandages, then I will do it myself.''

''I am focusing.'' the Nara replied, pulling his mouth away from the Hyuuga's ear and licking at it as he slowly continued to undo the bandages around Neji's head. He only used one hand to unwrap the bandages while he let the other trail down through that soft mocha colored hair.

Neji snorted at this. ''Barely.'' he said, not entirely hating the small touches.

Eventually, Neji felt the bandages fall away from his face, only to be replaced by newer ones a second later.

''Wait.'' Neji said, gripping Shikamaru's arm to stop him.

''What?'' the Nara said, stilling his movements. He sounded slightly irritated to Neji, like he wanted to get the wrappings on as soon as possible and didn't appreciate having to stop.

''Do you remember what Ino told you yesterday?''

The room became silent as the Nara thought for a moment. ''Hinata brought over your clothes.''

Neji frowned at this and shook his head. ''Then what?'' Shikamaru asked in his usual lazy tone.

''Eye drops.''

''She never told you about those.'' Shikamaru said, frowning.

''Yes she did. And she also told me that she told _you _to put them in four times a day before you re-do my wrappings.''

The room became silent again as the Nara remembered her saying that in a conversation somewhere. ''She doesn't trust me.'' he sighed. She most likely told Neji this because she thought he wouldn't remember, which he sort of didn't. He blamed Neji. The Hyuuga was too irresistible for his own good.

''Smart girl.'' Neji said, smirking to himself as he heard the chuunin get off the bed and rummage through some things.

''Yea yea.'' Shikamaru drawled as he popped open the cap to the Hyuuga's eye drops. ''Let's get this over with.''

* * *

A while later, Shikamaru finished putting in Neji's eye drops and wrapping his bandages. Now, with nothing to distract either of them, they could properly 'make up', like the Nara had been wanting to do the entire time he was attending to the Hyuuga's wounds.

Neji sighed as he felt a pair of lips attach themselves to his neck. He knew Shikamaru had been wanting this and it didn't seem like a bad idea to play around. The Hyuuga had a stressful morning after all. He had spent the good part of three hours locked up in the kitchen being angry. It was time to let loose a little.

The elite jounin could feel the Nara trailing his hands down his body in a suggestive way. It felt exciting, but not as exciting as it would have been if the Hyuuga could see what was going on. The elder shinobi ran his hand up to Shikamaru's shoulder, pulling the younger male down for a kiss when he found the back of his neck.

The Nara didn't complain at this and allowed Neji permission to enter his mouth with his tongue. The Hyuuga seemed a bit hesitant about the kiss. He kept his movements slow as he explored the chuunin's mouth with his tongue, as if he were trying to memorize everything with this one kiss.

Shikamaru let out a small moan of appreciation at this and placed one of his hands beside the Hyuuga's head as they kissed sensually. He lightly bit down on the elder's tongue, quite pleased when he received a moan in response.

Neji reached up and removed the chuunin's hair tie boldly. He was expecting to have at least some kind of response from the Nara. Maybe an angry one at that, but it never happened. Shikamaru didn't respond in the slightest. He was probably too distracted by me, the Hyuuga reasoned, a little proud of himself.

He ran his fingers down the coarse brunette colored hair that was darker than his own. The hair felt cold and smooth against his fingers and Neji never wished more to have his sight back then he did right now. Not too many people have seen the genius Nara with his hair down and Neji was very curious to know what he looked like.

The Hyuuga was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt a bigger hand grab and hold his own. He shivered when hot air puffed against his ear as Shikamaru leaned closer to him. ''Nej'..'' he heard the Nara sigh affectionately. ''You're so hot.''

''Don't call me that.'' Neji said, ignoring the compliment.

Shikamaru chuckled and stopped his loving touches. ''Why not?''

''I don't like it.'' was Neji's response.

''You don't have to hear it from anyone besides me.'' Shikamaru said, bumping his mouth against the Hyuuga's ear.

''The answer is still-'' Neji stopped himself when he felt the Nara bite and suck at that one point on his neck that drove him crazy. The Hyuuga pulled Shikamaru's hair in response, not at all surprised when the chuunin didn't react to his harsh tug.

Shikamaru continue to lavish that one spot on his Hyuuga's neck with kisses and bites until it turned pink. He pulled away when he was satisfied with marking Neji and turned his attention to undressing the jounin.

Neji helped Shikamaru remove his shirt and then his own. He trailed his curious hands down the Nara's muscled chest, trying to imagine what the Nara looked like right now in his mind. He grasped at the chuunin's hips as he felt nips and licks on his naked chest. The Hyuuga genius sighed as he felt Shikamaru place kisses on his bare skin every now and again.

Shikamaru undid the Hyuuga's pant buttons while he was distracted and pulled them down til they hung at the long haired shinobi's knees. Neji noticed this and gasped as he felt a tongue swirl around the head of his member, bringing it from half erect to full after a short while.

Neji moaned and grasped at the Nara's hair as he received attention in his most private place. He remembered the first time Shikamaru did this and how great it had felt. Now it was still the same as back then but Neji could feel that something was a bit better this time than it was last time.

The Nara continued to lick at Neji for a while, eventually taking him into his mouth after he felt that he had tortured the elder enough. His brown eyes looked from what he was doing up to Neji's face, seeing utter bliss decorate the jounin's face at what he was doing. He could hear Neji's breathing coming out in pants, along with some moans and gasps occasionally.

Shikamaru grabbed his boyfriend's hips when the male started bucking his hips and panting out his name. He smirked. Neji was quite entertaining when he was like this and it was amusing to watch. After a while of swirling his tongue around the Hyuuga's member, the Nara finally decided to ask something that he couldn't bring himself to use words for, so he used his actions instead. He reached around the Hyuuga and ran his finger over the other man's entrance.

Neji's eye sockets snapped open in surprise when he felt this. He immediately reached down and gripped the Nara's wrist in a harsh grip. Shikamaru frowned and pulled the member out of his mouth. He slowly rubbed his finger against the Hyuuga's entrance and crawled up his body to his ear once again. ''Please, Nej'?'' he asked in a sweet voice.

''Shikamaru..'' Neji said, not knowing what to do at this point. Was he ready for this?

The younger male didn't reply and continued with his gentle rubbings, waiting for an answer.

''I...no. Not yet.'' Neji said, pulling the Nara's hand away from him.

Shikamaru frowned at being shot down but respected Neji's space anyway. They would do this when he was ready and if now wasn't the time, he could respect that, even though he wasn't too ecstatic about it.

''I'm sorry.'' Neji said, feeling the air become awkward in the room.

''Don't be. I'm not mad.'' Shikamaru half-lied and kissed Neji's mouth softly before continuing with what he was doing, respecting Neji's decision thought and not going beyond just kissing and touching.

* * *

Neji frowned as he was once again left alone with his thoughts.

Shikamaru had left to go and get them something for dinner. His fridge was apparently empty from this morning, even though they hadn't eaten very much. He probably wanted to make a food dish and he ran out of milk or something, the Hyuuga guessed. He didn't know and he really didn't care right now.

He kept thinking about what just happened. He had said again and again that it was alright that they were going to wait and that he wasn't mad. Neji did believe him. He had no reason not to, Shikamaru hadn't seemed angry when he was died. Neji did feel a little bad for saying no, though, but it was how he felt. He wasn't ready. The Hyuuga sighed as he found himself wanting the Nara close to him again now that he was gone, which led him to think about the train of thought he had this morning.

'_Am I really in love with him?_' Neji thought, frowning as he turned over onto his side. The sheets were warm against the naked skin of his chest and they smelled of Shikamaru. It was comforting under their embrace, but it wasn't the same as being with the Nara.

This was really starting to bug Neji to no end. He hadn't been in this long of a relationship before. He did occasionally have one night stands, like most people his age, but he never had time for relationships in general, let alone love and now with his injury piled on top of it all, he was a whirlwind of emotions right now. He had to struggle to keep his stone cold facade all the time, especially with the Nara, who found ways to made the stone crack into tiny pieces without the Hyuuga even noticing what happened.

'_Maybe I should..speak to someone about this._' he thought, remembering how TenTen always talked on and on about how much she loved and missed Lee whenever he was away and how Naruto screamed his love to Hinata when they first had gotten together.

'_Maybe..._'

* * *

Shikamaru's eyes drifted from shelf to shelf as he sauntered lazily down the aisles of the super market, trying to find some cheese. He had ran out of it the other day and he also needed to buy milk and eggs. He already found the milk, now all he needed was the cheese and eggs.

The Nara lazily tossed the carton of milk from one hand to the other as he scanned his eyes for the kind of cheese that he always bought. He weaved around the flock of people trying to get their groceries, so focused on his searching that he almost didn't hear the small call of his name that came from behind him.

''Um...Shi..Shikamaru.''

''Hm?'' the addressed said as he turned around to find someone he hadn't seen in a little while. ''Oh. Hey Hinata. Funny seeing you here again.'' he said, finding it somewhat odd to see the Hyuuga here again when she had said that she doesn't shop here normally when he last saw her.

''Yes. Well I was here with my sister but she um..slipped away from me and I saw you walking while I was looking for her and I ..just wanted to ask how Neji-niisan is doing?'' the Hyuuga heiress explained.

''He's doing fine.'' Shikamaru said, shrugging as he tried to push the interesting thoughts his mind decided to conger up at the mention of the jounin's name. ''What else would you expect from him?''

Hinata smiled. ''That's good to hear.'' she said, happy. ''He didn't seem like himself when I saw him in the hospital.''

''Yes. He's doing fine now, anyway so don't worry about it.'' Shikamaru said, waving his hand dismissively. ''Well, Hinata, if that's all you wanted, I guess I'll see you around. I gotta go make dinner.'' the Nara said, turning to walk away.

''Wait.'' Hinata said, reaching out for him.

The male shinobi stopped and turned around, giving a suspicious look at the hand that was reaching out to touch him. He raised an eyebrow in question.

''Um..'' Hinata said, blushing as she pulled her hand back as if she had been burnt. ''There..there is something else I would like to ask you about..''

''Yea?''

''What..kind of..'' the heiress paused, trying to find the right way to ask her question. ''relationship do you have with Neji-niisan?''

''We're friends.'' Shikamaru responded, a little too fast, which intrigued Hinata. Now she _knew_ something was going on.

''Please, Shikamaru.'' Hinata tried again, bringing her fingers up and together like she usually did when she was younger. ''I..know something is going on. You can tell me. I won't..be mad or anything. And..and I won't judge you. I just..'' she stopped herself.

To Shikamaru, Hinata sounded more concerned than anything else. '_About Neji..._' he thought, concluding that his Hyuuga probably never had a relationship or anything before, so it was understandable that Hinata would be a little worried about her elder cousin's feelings and well being. The two of them were very close after all.

''I...'' The Nara started, at a loss for words. He eventually sighed and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. ''Troublesome. You better come with me.'' he said, looking around at the many people passing them in the small aisle as they shopped for their groceries.

Hinata blinked owlishly at the other shinobi. She was about to inquire why but then she caught the hint that this was something that needed to be discussed in private. ''A-alright. I'll um..go tell my sister to go home without me.'' she said before going off to find Hanabi.

Shikamaru sighed as he watched her go. He turned back to the dairy products and frowned when he found the cheese he was looking for. ''What a drag..''

* * *

''I..I see.'' Hinata said, her bangs hiding the expression on her face as she tried to process the information she had just been given.

''Yes.'' Neji said, taking a sip of his tea as he, Hinata and Shikamaru sat in the Nara's kitchen. When Hinata had come home with Shikamaru, they had all sat down to eat and talk together with a meal that Hinata herself had prepared. She had said it was something she had wanted to do. The elder Hyuuga had been quite surprised when he found out about what they wanted to talk about, but he didn't protest. She would have found out eventually anyway.

Neji was still somewhat nervous about what she was going to say, though. He didn't want to have her hating him. Not when they had finally gotten so close after hating each other when they were younger.

''How long?''

''Since I had started observing in Shikamaru's class.'' Neji answered, frowning. He could feel Shikamaru's foot rubbing against his, trying to give some comfort. The right side of his mouth went up slightly at the small touch.

When the heiress didn't respond back Shikamaru tried his turn at talking to her. ''Hinata.'' The Nara said, sighing as he could see that her expression was darkening in disapproval. ''I know this is probably weird for you to understand. But ya gotta know, both me and Neji are happy like this and even if you disapprove, we are still going to be together.''

Hinata snapped her head up quickly after Shikamaru spoke. ''I never said that I disapprove.'' she said quickly, finally taking in their expressions and feeling guilty for making them think that she was against the two of them. ''Neji-niisan. If you are happy..then I am happy.'' she said, smiling at her elder cousin.

''Thank you.'' Neji said, giving a smile of his own in her direction. He felt like as if a huge weight has been lifted off his shoulders and now he was able to move freely. It was a good feeling.

''Wait a minute.'' Shikamaru said, frowning. ''If you are all for it then why were you looking so down in the dumps?''

Hinata blushed at this before looking down at her hands that were folded in her lap. ''I was just..thinking about what the clan would do. I'm..concerned.''

''Don't be.'' Neji said. ''This is between me and them. I will deal with it if the time comes.''

''But..'' the heiress started to protest, looking at her cousin.

''Hinata-sama. Please.'' Neji said, his tone final.

''I...'' Hinata said, frowning. ''A..alright. If that is what you want, then..then I won't worry about it.''

''Good. You do too much of that anyway.'' Shikamaru said, giving her a smirk.

Hinata returned the smile. ''I know. I can't help it sometimes. Neji-niisan is..very important to me.'' she said, truthfully.

Neji was momentarily at a loss for words at this. ''You are very important to me as well... Hinata.''

The heiress brightened up when she heard him say that. Not only because he was saying something so nice to her, but because he didn't put 'sama' at the end of her name. She had always protested about him doing that, but he had never listened before..until now.

''Alright. That's enough mush for one night.'' Shikamaru said, feeling like a third wheel. ''Let's eat already. I'm starving.''

''Oh. Yes, let's.'' Hinata said, picking up her eating utensils.

''Yes'' Neji said, happy with how this day was ending after it having been so horrible this morning.

* * *

Around an hour later, Hinata had said her goodbyes and left, promising to visit the two of them soon. Neji was very glad with how everything turned out with her but now he was having a bit of a problem with Shikamaru.

''Look, Neji. I'm not sleeping on the couch again. My back is killing me.'' Shikamaru said, going into his bedroom.

''You said that your couch was fine to sleep on when we last saw Ino.'' Neji said, frowning as he followed after the Nara, bracing his hand against the wall so he didn't crash into anything.

''Yea, well. I lied.'' The Nara said, not finding why this was such a problem. They had almost made love on that very bed earlier, what was the big deal?

''Well it doesn't matter to me. I will sleep on the couch if you really wish to have your bed that badly.''

''No you're not.'' Shikamaru said, frowning. ''If it's hurting me this badly imagine what'll happen to you. You're already injured.''

''I don't care.'' Neji said, turning and leaving the room.

The Nara sighed at this. ''Troublesome.'' he mumbled and followed after his Hyuuga.

When he finally reached Neji, he wound his arms around him, stopping him instantly. ''Neji. What's going on? I don't see what the big deal is.''

''I do not wish to sleep in the same space as you, Shikamaru. Is that too hard to comprehend?''

''Why not?'' Shikamaru shot back, turning the Hyuuga around in his arms.

''Because I-'' Neji started but then stopped himself when he couldn't find the right words. He just didn't want a repeat of what happened this morning. He didn't want to hear that defeated and saddened tone in the Nara ever again, especially when he had been the cause of it.

''Look, Neji. If this is about what I think it's about, I'm not going to do anything. I just want to sleep.'' Shikamaru said, it not taking that much to put two and two together.

''You promise?'' Neji asked, suspicious, as he gripped the Nara's forearms.

''I promise.'' Shikamaru said, leaning down and kissing the Hyuuga's cheek.

Neji was silent at this before giving a big sigh. ''Alright.'' he said, not sure what he had just gotten himself into.

* * *

**Yep, you guys! I'm back! :DD and I'm SOOOO sorry! I originally planned to surprise you guys by putting this up on XMAS but that completely failed -.- I got sick on XMAS eve and then my editor wouldn't read fast enough, and THEN I got distracted by Legend of Dragoon *sheepish grin***

**I will be posting again you guys, eventually. I do have a lot on my plate with preparing for college right now but I will try my best to have chapters up here as soon as possible. I hope you guys enjoyed this chap and I'll see you later! Ja!~**

**P.S. I'm sorry for any mistakes. I'm sure that there are a lot. I'm too lazy to check for mistakes :P**

**Review Replies:**

**Misaki Takahashi: You're a fricken fruit -,- And you're not an evil scientist so stop laughin like one XD Thanks for the review buddy, I can't wait to read more of your story and I hope that you'll continue to read mine :3**

**Gue77: *throws a healing potion* here! Save yourself! Don't die! Lol XD**

**Kuro Tenka: Thanks for the review! It makes me really happy to know that you like my story :] You'll have to wait and see how the story ends, though. I have decided what I wanna do and I can't wait to get started with writing it XD**

**Much love to everyone who has ever reviewed my story. Migoto out! XD**


	13. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer**: Do you really think I would be writing stories about these characters if I already owned them? -.-

The anime/manga series 'Naruto' along with all of its characters belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing.

**Songs: If You Still Believe from Legend of Dragoon(Have I mentioned before that I LOVE THIS GAME?) The River by Good Charlotte, Evening from The original Naruto Soundtrack, Red XIII's Theme from Final Fantasy VII, and Like A Prayer by Madonna**

* * *

Shikamaru groaned when the sound of running water reached his ears for the fifth time that night. He rolled over onto his stomach. ''Troublesome...'' he muttered as he lifted his head up from the comforting softness of his pillow. ''Neji, will you cut it out and get in here already?''

The water stopped just a few seconds before said prodigy's voice could be heard from the bathroom. ''Patience is a virtue, Shikamaru.''

''Well even I can only be so patient.'' The Nara grumbled back, shifting under the covers

''Then why do you not go to sleep?'' Neji replied back. ''I'm not stopping you.''

''Yea you are.'' Shikamaru said, sighing. ''The light from the bathroom is right in my face.''

There was a silence that followed before the door to the bathroom was pulled shut so that there was only a sliver of light coming into the Nara's bedroom.

Shikamaru smirked at Neji's willingness to comply and rested his head against his pillow. ''Thanks... honey.''

He smirked even wider when the door to the bathroom was loudly slammed shut after that statement.

* * *

Neji frowned and turned his attention back to the bathroom sink when he heard Shikamaru settle down. He ran his fingers over the cold water while he let his other hand caress his neck, like he had been doing for the past twenty minutes.

His frown deepened when he felt a burning sensation that hurt somewhat when he found that particular spot on his neck again. It didn't hurt that much, he had had worse pains before, but still, it urked him that such a tiny spot on his skin had such an effect on him.

He had found the stupid thing when he had come into the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. Neji Hyuuga never had a hickey before. He had given them to others a few times, yes, but he never had one himself and he didn't know what to do with it. He pressed his cold fingers to the hot spot on his neck, thinking about whether or not Hinata had seen this on him when she was over earlier that night.

'_Shikamaru did this to me before she stopped by..._' Neji thought, grinding his teeth together when the cold water did nothing for his condition...again. '_So she more than likely did see it._' the Hyuuga said, grabbing the edge of the sink with his fingers tightly. '_Wonderful..._' he thought sarcastically, knowing that even if she did see it, Hinata would never ask about it. She would be too embarrassed to bring up something that personal.

Neji sighed in frustration and embarrassment at this and the fact that this...abomination on his neck was STILL THERE. '_I __**am**__ going to get rid of you._' he thought determinedly, as he tried to think of something else to get rid of the stupid thing on his neck.

* * *

A long while later, Neji had finally had enough. He couldn't read any of the labels on the medicines inside Shikamaru's bathroom for obvious reasons and he did try a few random things in there to see if they would help. Nothing worked, and he didn't want to lower his pride any further by asking the Nara for help. It was degrading enough that he had let his guard down long enough to let it happen in the first place.

The Hyuuga quietly opened the door to Shikamaru's room, being cautious of every step he took so that he wouldn't crash into anything as he made his way to the bed. Once there, he sighed in relief when he found that Shikamaru had taken the other side of the bed instead of the one closest to the door so that Neji wouldn't have to stumble around in the darkness some more to make it to the opposite side of the bed.

Neji was a little hesitant to get into the bed with Shikamaru. He did trust his word when he had said that he wouldn't try to pull anything tonight, but something deep down told Neji that this wasn't a good idea.

The Jonin shook his head and got into bed anyway. He could clearly hear the Nara's even breaths and knew that the other shinobi was sleeping, so there was no reason to be nervous at all. Besides, he guessed it was really late anyway, seeing as he did spend an huge amount of time in the bathroom, and he was beyond tired right now.

Neji lied down and just listened to the sound of Shikamaru's breathing for a few minutes before he started to let himself fall asleep as well. He was almost into the blissful place of sleep when he heard it. A familiar and irritating sound that he had only heard a few times when he went with certain shinobi on overnight missions.

Now he knew why his gut had told him this was a bad idea...

The Hyuuga placed his arms on the bed and slowly lifted his upper body off of the bed, his head turned in the direction of the annoying sound. '_I had just settled down and now I have to hear this?_' Neji thought, pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation at Shikamaru's snoring.

He heard shifting next to him and soon felt curled fingers barely touch his stomach. The jounin frowned and lied down again, thrusting both of his arms underneath his pillow and pressing his face against the soft object as he tried to ignore Shikamaru.

After about 10 minutes, Neji shook his head and pressed his face harder against the pillow. '_This is __going to be a long night..._'

* * *

The next morning, Neji slowly woke up. He ignored the obvious fact that he wouldn't be able to see the morning sun again today and slowly let himself come to his senses. The first thing he noticed, to his dismay and confusion was that he was restrained.

'_What?...Oh._' he thought, remembering what happened last night and calming down enough to realize that the things restraining him were not chains or rope, but arms. Shikamaru had both of his arms wrapped around Neji's midsection and had the Hyuuga pulled securely to his chest, the Nara's head resting on the pillow above Neji's.

Said Jonin wasn't too happy about this. It was like he was in a cage of limbs. The prodigy quickly shook his head at that thought. He didn't want to think about that thought. It would bring his mind down a path he didn't feel like going right now.

Neji moved to pull away from the sleeping Chuunin, but found that the grip only tightened around him. ''Shikamaru.'' He hissed, knowing that the other male was awake now.

''Hm?'' Was all the response he got back.

''Release me.'' Neji said, getting angry when he heard Shikamaru chuckle.

''Nah, I'm good.''

''Shikamaru...'' Neji said, giving the Nara an irritated look as he struggled to get out of the arms that encircled him.

''Hey. You're warm and I'm not up to moving right now.'' Shikamaru said, yawning as he pulled Neji back into his chest. ''Besides, you owe me.''

Neji stopped and frowned. ''How so?'' he asked, curious.

''You woke me up.'' the other shinobi said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. ''Twice.''

''When?''

''Just now and when you came to bed last night.''

''You were sleeping.'' Neji said, raising an eyebrow.

''Actors aren't the only people who can pretend to be something they're not.'' Shikamaru said, yawning again and closing his eyes as he buried his nose in Neji's hair, finding that it smelled clean, like cotton, instead of like some fruit that he was expecting it to smell like. ''What were you doing in there anyway?''

''Nothing.'' Neji said, pulling his head away from the Nara's.

''People don't spend three hours in a bathroom doing 'nothing'" Shikamaru said, frowning and opening his eyes to look at Neji. ''Are you sick or somethin'?'' he asked, putting one of his hands on the Hyuuga's forehead and pushing his wrappings up so that he could feel his forehead.

''No.'' Neji said quickly, pulling away as if the Nara's touch burned him.

''Then what's up?''

''It's nothing.'' Neji said and pulled away from Shikamaru, surprised to find that the Nara let him go this time. ''I do not wish to talk about it.''

''Troublesome.'' Was all the younger ninja said before he turned his back on Neji and made himself comfortable again.

There was a silence that filled the room for a short while until Neji broke it by getting up and leaving the room. Shikamaru looked over his shoulder and watched him leave, a smug look in his eyes. He had figured out exactly why Neji was in that bathroom for so long last night and it made him want to laugh at how amusing this whole situation was. Neji Hyuuga,_ the_ Neji Hyuuga, becoming so flustered over a simple hickey. It was priceless.

''Heh...'' Shikamaru said, amused and closed his eyes to continue his original plan of sleeping in late, like he did every morning when he didn't have something to do.

* * *

His plan didn't work out so well, though, because not even five minutes after he had fallen asleep, Neji came back into the bedroom and demanded that the Nara give him his eye drops before he got any ideas about skipping it this morning, like they did yesterday.(By mistake of course; they both had forgotten because of their fight.)

So, Shikamaru had been forced to get up and tend to his injured Hyuuga's wounds.

''What a drag...'' the Nara complained as he put in the eyedrops in Neji's right eye socket before moving on to the left one.

''This isn't exactly fun for me either, Shikamaru.'' Neji said when the younger shinobi finished.

Shikamaru just grumbled something intelligible as he worked on re-wrapping the Hyuuga's bandages. He let his eyes travel to Neji's neck as he worked. He smirked when he found out he was right about what Neji had been doing in the bathroom last night. The color of the hickey was now a slightly darker color than it should have been at this point of it's development, which meant that it had been tampered with in the hopes of removing it. Shikamaru shook his head at this; it would only stay on the jounin's skin longer now instead.

''What happened to you?'' he asked, deciding to poke fun at Neji for making him get up this early.

''What are you talking about?'' Neji asked, gasping softly when Shikamaru's fingers touched his neck.

''This. What did you do?''

''Nothing.'' Neji said, frowning. ''It is your fault that it is there in the first place.''

Shikamaru smirked. ''Yea. I guess you're right about that.'' he said, tying off Neji's bandages and removing his hands.

''Hn.'' Neji said, turning away from where he thought Shikamaru was in irritaion.

''Well.'' Shikamaru said, getting up from the bed and stretching. ''Whatever you were doing in that bathroom last night, don't do it again. Unless you want it to stay there for the rest of your life.'' He said, an amused expression on his face when he saw that Neji had a flabbergasted look upon his face.

''How do you know that?'' Neji questioned after a few moments of silence.

''Trust me.'' Shikamaru said, suddenly very close to Neji's ear all of sudden, which made the Hyuuga almost shiver when he felt warm air against his skin. ''I know.''

''Shika-'' Neji started to say but was cut off when Shikamaru pressed his lips against his.

Neji frowned at this. The Nara always seemed to pull him into this sort of situation when he was least expecting it. The Hyuuga frowned even more when he felt Shikamaru smirk against his lips. He sighed and let the Nara kiss him, though. He _did_ like the attention after all...

Just before the kiss was about to deepen between them, something happened that made Shikamaru's eyes go wide. He heard his name being called by the one person he _really_ didn't want to deal with right now.

''SHIKAMARU NARA!'' A loud voice ricocheted off of his walls as the owner of the voice just let herself in.

''Fuck.'' Shikamaru said, slapping his face with his palm, uninterested in the look Neji gave him for cussing. ''It's mom.''

* * *

Yoshino Nara looked around her son's living space with a disgusted look. When was the last time he ever cleaned this place? It was absolutely horrible; Dirty clothes thrown about the room, coffee cup rings all over the table, dust everywhere, and the poor carpet hadn't been cleaned in ages!

In retrospect, the room was not as bad as other men who lived on their own, but Yoshino was nuts about cleanliness, one of the things Shikamaru loathed about her, and she was completely appalled that her son lived like this.

''Shikamaru Nara!'' she hollered again, not caring that she was most likely giving the elderly couple that lived next door a heart attack.

''Hey, mom.'' Said boy drawled in his usual tone as he sauntered into his living room, scratching the back of his neck and giving his mother a bored look.

''Don't you ''hey mom'' me.'' Yoshino said, a vein popping out in her forehead out of anger. ''Look at this place! It's horrendous! When was the last time you cleaned this dump? It's even worse than the last time I was here.'' she asked as she put her hands on her hips.

Shikamaru sighed and shrugged to his mother. '_I don't even live with her anymore and she's still nagging my ear off._' He thought, giving his mother a look that said 'Please-don't-bug-me.'

''Don't you look at me that way, Shikamaru. Is that any way to act around your mother?'' She asked, stepping over clothing so that she wasn't hanging around in the doorway.

Shikamaru frowned and sighed once more. ''_Mom_, I don't have time for this.'' He said, thinking, '_Man. She is __**such**__ a crab_.'

''Well you better make time. I feel like I don't see you anymore and it's been ages since you have spent time with your father and I.''

''I've been busy, mom.'' Shikamru said, scratching the back of his head.

''And just what has kept you so busy that you can't even spend time with your family?'' Yoshino inquired, raising one of her dark eyebrows.

''Well..'' The younger Nara said, at a loss for words.

''I have.'' Neji said as he stepped into the doorway cautiously. He didn't want to butt into their conversation, but it seemed like Shikamaru needed the help right now. He had heard about Yoshino Nara a couple of times from his uncle, who was on friendly terms with basically every clan in the village. Apparently this woman was a very ill-tempered and fussy woman, according to his uncle.

''And just who are you?'' Yoshino asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

''It's a long story...'' Shikamaru said, sighing.

''Well, get explaining. I have time.''

* * *

''Oh. So you're the one that was apart of that eye incident I heard about.'' Yoshino said, concerned as she sat in her chair in the kitchen table. She and Neji had moved out there to talk whilst Shikamaru decided(was ordered) to clean his living room.

''Yes.'' Neji said, sipping his tea calmly.

''Oh, you poor dear.'' Yoshino said, putting her hand over her mouth.

Shikamaru looked at the whole scene with a look of shock on his face. His mother NEVER acted that way with him, even when he was injured. She had always told him to grow up and be a man, like his father. '_Be like dad? Yea right. She has him totally whipped..._'

''Shikamaru!'' Yoshino said when she noticed her son's jealous stare. ''Quit looking at us like that and get to cleaning that table! I want to see it shine as bright as it did the day your sensei bought it for you.''

''Troublesome.'' Shikamaru grumbled to himself and got to work. At 17 years old, he STILL feared his mother. How manly...

''Anyway...'' Yoshino said, an undertone of annoyance in her voice before she focused her attention back onto Neji. ''How did you end up staying with my lazy son?'' she asked.

''Well, it was decided that I would choose where I would stay during my recovery and Shikamaru offered to let me stay here. I didn't think there would be a problem considering we started being friends before this whole ordeal.'' Neji said, inwardly hating the fact that they were talking about this. He loathed discussing anything that related to his injury.

''Well if you ask me, this is a huge problem. If you could see this place, then you would be as shocked as I am. It is bad enough that this apartment is unclean when Shikamaru's the only one here, but you're here too. And you're injured!''

''I know, Ma'am. But it is not as bad as it seems.''

''Oh yes it is! I will admit, he does keep his kitchen in order, but everything else is atrocious! I swear, if he was still living at home, this would never happen. And Shikamaru. Don't you walk away. You need to clean that carpet and put away those shirts.'' Yoshino said, noticing the younger Nara's attempt at an escape while she was distracted. ''And don't just throw them in your room and leave them there. I know that trick.''

''Ugh. Mom.'' Shikamaru complained, not appreciating being treated like a child in front of his boyfriend. Well, she didn't know that, but still.

''Don't you 'mom' me. You just be grateful I'm not making you clean the rest of this apartment.'' Yoshino said, glaring at her son as Neji smirked at how amusing this all was.

''You're such a pain...'' Shikamaru said under his breathe as he gathered his clothes to put away.

''I heard that. You should be more respectful to your mother.'' Yoshino said, frowning as she took a sip of her tea. ''If you were half as polite as Neji, then I wouldn't have to nag you so much.''

''What a drag...'' Was all Shikamaru replied back as he took his clothes and went to put them away.

''Hmph.'' Yoshino said and finished the rest of her tea. Her brown eyes looked over at the clock in the kitchen and she smiled and returned her attention back to Neji. ''Anyway, Neji.'' She said as she got up from her chair. ''It was a pleasure to speak with you, but I must be going. Don't let him stop cleaning that living room until it's spotless, okay?''

Neji smirked back at her. ''Believe me, I won't.'' he said as she got up as well.

''Good. At least someone can take charge of him while I'm away.'' She said proudly and exited the kitchen and walked over to the hallway. ''Shikamaru, come over here.'' She said into the hallway before she went over to the door to retrieve her shoes.

''What do you want now?'' Shikamaru asked, giving his mother a bored look.

''Don't you speak to me in that way. Now, I'm leaving to go grocery shopping. I expect to see you more often.'' She said, ignoring the relieved look that passed his face at her leaving him alone. She saw Neji come into the room as she was putting on her shoes and a thought struck her. ''Actually, I just got a splendid idea.''

Shikamaru frowned when he heard this. She only ever said that she was about to suggest something in a way that was subtle enough to sound like a simple suggestion, but he knew she really was _telling_ him to do it.

''I think it would be a marvelous idea if you came over for dinner tomorrow.'' she said.

'_Yep._' Shikamaru thought, frowning. 'S_he's not suggesting, she's ordering me to come._' He thought, but then he remembered Neji. Maybe he could actually win this battle. ''Mom, I can't just leave Neji here.''

''Neji is allowed to come as well.'' Yoshino said in a happy voice as she smiled at the two of them.

''Mom, I don't think Neji would be up to-'' Shikamaru said but she cut him off.

''Nonsense. Neji, you have been cooped up here in this dreadful place for days. It would do you some good to be out and about.'' Yoshino said, focusing her attention on Neji rather than her son.

Neji felt the hairs stand on the back of his neck and he instantly knew they were both looking at him. ''I think...that is a nice idea, Mrs. Nara.'' He said, not seeing the harm in going to dinner with Shikamaru's parents and also not seeing the completely betrayed and shocked look on Shikamaru's face.

''Great. I'll see you two boys later then. Come around 6:30 so I have time to make everything. I love you, Shikamaru.'' She said, like she always did before she left him.

''…Love you too, mom.'' Shikamaru said, still flabbergasted about what Neji had just said.

Yoshino smiled before leaving and shutting the door behind her, leaving them to their own devices.

There was a pregnant silence in the room that was so quiet someone could hear a pin drop.

''What?'' Neji asked, frowning as he turned his head in Shikamaru's direction.

''Why did you just do that?'' Shikamaru asked, frowning as he thought about how his mom was going to make his life a living hell tomorrow.

''Quit acting like a child.'' Neji said and went into the kitchen to try and find something to eat. They had been so preoccupied by Yoshino that they hadn't eaten breakfast yet. And it was already 10:30. ''You should be grateful to spend time with your parents.''

''Ugh.'' Shikamaru said and sat down at the table, not offering a response to that. He knew that the subject of parents probably wasn't something that Neji wanted to talk about. He had been there and heard when Neji talked about his father during their first Chuunin exams, after all. ''Yea yea. Just what do you want for breakfast?'' he said, letting it go for now.

''I'll take anything that you are willing to make.''

''Good.'' Shikamaru said. ''Then you're having cereal.'' he said, not having the energy to prepare anything else. He sighed and got up to get Neji his breakfast.

* * *

'_The Chuunin exams this year will be held in..blah blah blah._' Shikamaru thought as he read over his paperwork a while later. He had put in some more of Neji's eyedrops about three hours ago and currently the Hyuuga was sleeping in his room. He had said something about snoring keeping him up in the middle of the night, but Shikamaru hadn't been paying attention. To be honest, he was still a little ticked about going to see his mom tomorrow. He could handle seeing his dad, but his mom was another story, as proved by this morning. And yes, his living room _was_ spotless by the way.

Shikamaru sighed, exasperated, and put his paperwork down on his table. There was only so much he could take of that stuff. He got up from his spot on his couch and went over to his small stereo system and turned it on. He didn't really care for the music that came out of his speakers, but he didn't feel like making the effort to change the station. He turned the music down low, though, so that Neji could continue sleeping.

He plopped down on his couch and laced his fingers behind his head, closing his eyes as he started to drift off himself when he heard footsteps come into the living room. He cracked an eye open and smirked as Neji walked into the living room, the Hyuuga's fingers running through his hair to dislodge a tangle that formed while he was sleeping.

''Hey, sleeping beauty. Did I wake you up?'' Shikamaru asked, not at all surprised when Neji just turned his head in the direction of the voice. Most blind people would be startled if they heard a random voice suddenly, but Neji could sense Shikamaru's chakra so he knew that the younger shinobi was there.

''No.'' Neji said, wisely ignoring the nick name. He had gotten up about 5 minutes ago.

''Hm...'' Shikamaru said and closed his eyes again, listening to the music as it switched to an old pop song.

''Are you angry with me?'' Neji asked as he found the couch and sat down, Shikamaru moving his legs to let him sit.

''Not right now.'' The Nara said and shifted on the couch to a more comfortable position. ''I will be tomorrow though.''

Neji sighed at this. ''So you are angry with me.'' He said.

''Not right now...tomorrow.'' Shikamaru said, smirking to himself.

''It's still the same.''

''No it's not.''

''Yes it is.'' Neji said. ''Either now or later, you are angry with me. Even though I do not see why. Your mother only cares about you and wants to see you.''

''Hm...'' Shikamaru said seeing Neji's point. He stretched his sock covered feet out over Neji's thighs, much to said Hyuuga's annoyance. ''I'll tell you what Neji, I'll make a deal with you. I won't be mad at you over this if you do something for me.''

''You should not even be angry in the first place.'' Neji protested.

''Hey. You've only known my mom for an hour and a half. I have every right to be angry. You could even ask Chouji and Ino. They know how bad she can get. You haven't seen the worst of it. And she's making stuff up about not seeing her. I see her every weekend. I think that I should be able to have one week off to spend by myself.''

''Hn...'' Neji said. Honestly, he didn't know much about Yoshino, and Shikamaru _could_ be telling the truth for all he knew. ''Fine then. What do you want?'' The Hyuuga said, accepting Shikamaru's deal. Normally, he could care less if someone were mad at him. But Shikamaru was different, he didn't want the younger nin mad at him. That almost happened once already when Neji said no to him yesterday and he didn't want it to happen now.

''Heh...'' Shikamaru said, putting his other foot behind Neji's back and pulling in a sort of claw like motion. ''I want _you_ to give me some ninja sugar, baby.''

The room was silent as Neji tried to decipher if the Nara had actually just said that or not. '_Ninja sugar?_' He thought, thinking that that had to be the stupidest pick up line he ever heard in his life. ''You're horrible.'' Neji said, referring to the younger ninja's lust.

Shikamaru retracted his legs and sat up, pulling Neji to him so that the elder male was sitting in his lap, with one of the Hyuuga's legs on either side of his body. ''And yet you love it.'' Shikamaru whispered into Neji's ear and bit at his ear lobe.

Neji shivered. Not at the bite, but at the word 'love.' He had yet to figure anything out about whether he was in love with Shikamaru or not and the thought made him uneasy to think about. He just didn't know. And he felt a little bad about it. He shoved that thought to the back of his mind along with the sudden want to see Shikamaru when the younger ninja lapped at his neck with his tongue.

''Perhaps.'' Neji finally said after a few short moments. He wrapped his arms around the Nara's neck. He placed one of his hands on the back of Shikamaru's head and removed it from his neck, moving to initiate a kiss with the Chuunin.

He missed though, and ended up kissing Shikamaru's upper lip and cheek. He frowned in embarrassment while Shikamaru chuckled at him and grabbed the back of Neji's head, positioning him so that they lips were right in front of each other.

The breaths synced and Shikamaru waited for Neji to kiss him first. He didn't have to wait long though, for Neji was eager to kiss him for some reason. The Hyuuga smiled a little into the kiss when he felt a spark as they kissed each other. He knew that was a good sign in determining whether he was in love or not and it made him happy to feel it every time they kissed. He ran his hands down the front of Shikamaru's chest as their tongues played together.

Shikamaru sighed into the kiss as he felt this. Kissing Neji was like a drug. He could never get enough. He let one of his hands wrap around his Hyuuga's waist and placed the other hand on the elder boy's cheek, rubbing circles into the soft skin with his thumb.

They finally pulled away when the need for air became too great. ''Forgive me, yet?'' Neji asked, not caring when he felt Shikamaru's hand sneak up his shirt and lay flat against his back.

''Not yet.'' Shikamaru said and kissed the Hyuuga's jaw before capturing the other shinobi's lips again with his own, this time thrusting his tongue into Neji's mouth without permission, causing Neji to moan softly and grab onto his Nara's hips with his hands.

Neither of them wanted to stop, so it was no surprise they didn't hear the sound of keys opening Shikamaru's door...

''Shika!'' Ino yelled happily as she finally opened the door. ''We're here to make sure you're not screwing...'' She stopped when she caught sight of the two shinobi making out on the couch. ''Up.'' She finished, a blush coming onto her cheeks as she stared, her mouth hanging wide open.

Neji and Shikamaru realized too late that they had visitors and pulled their mouths apart quickly, both looking shocked in the direction of the doorway.

''Ino-senpai. Why do look like you've seen a ghost?'' A sweet little voice said that made Neji's heart stop at the thought of her seeing him like this and he frantically tried to pull away, but he wasn't nearly fast enough.

Namine poked her head into the doorway and gasped at seeing her senseis in such a position. She placed her hand over her mouth and stared wide eyed at the scene as Ino started doing a pretty believable impression of a fish.

Neji was the first to move off of Shikamaru. He stood awkwardly between the couch and the coffee table as he realized that he had most likely lost all the respect his little student had for him right now...

* * *

**Whew! Oh yea! It's done! And it didn't take forever :D Hazaa XD I'm sorry to leave you guys with a cliffhanger, again, but I couldn't resist :3 I know you secretly love it :D Sorry, I blame my constant munching of SweatHearts. They're just sooo addicting :D Even more than koolaid :OOO**

**Anyways, thanks for reading and please review and let me know what you think! :3 I'll catch you guys next time, which hopefully won't take too long :D Ja!**

**Review Replies:**

**Misaki Takahashi: You know what? Your face is about time -.-" But thanks for your review :D And no, you are not an evil scientist! Cut it out. Meh -.- I'll see you in school, fruit cup.**

**Seto'swifey: Thanks for the review :D And I'm sorry to hear about your daughter. :[ Guess old Saint Nick was out to get people this year by giving them sicknesses to go along with their presents 0.0 Meh. He'll get his...eventually. And don't worry by the way. I am going be keeping up the good work. I promise you that :]**


	14. Authors Note: Please Read

**Disclaimer:** Uh...I have no idea if this needs a disclaimer, prob not but better safe than sorry right? -.- I own nothing.

Hey guys, I know you are wanting a new chapter for this story, but I gotta be honest. I don't have the time, energy or even the _WILL_ to write any more of this story. It's not you guys, trust me, I know people like this story, but it's just me. I'm so bored with 'Naruto' that I can't think about writing any more for it. I'm sick of all the fillers and I'm sure that you all would agree. So, I have two choices for you guys, either wait for me to start getting into Naruto again, which will probably take like a year -.- OR, I would be willing to give this story up for adoption to anyone who I see fit to take it. You need to **1)** be a good writer, which I will check for...somehow. Haven't really thought about that yet -.- **2)** try and keep the characters **in CHARACTER** to the best of your ability. I can not **TELL** you how much it **irritates** me when characters aren't written well **3)** Have at least reviewed my story once and/or has added it to your fav stories and lastly **4) Promise Me** that you will take care of my baby. This was my first story ever and it hurts me just as much as it does you to see it go but I don't want to be mean to you guys any longer by making you wait for something that will never come.

Kay, so its like that. If you want to adopt Fatefully Intertwined, review this chap or just message me on here and again, I'm really sorry you guys but I can't do this anymore. :[

~Migoto Nami


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